CLEVELAND, OH- BGSU men’s basketball (14-18, 8-10 MAC) saw their 2025 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament run come to an early end with a 96-67 blowout loss to the No. 1 seeded Akron Zips (21-11, 17-1 MAC) at Rocket Arena.
“Tough way to end your season, we just didn’t have it,” said head coach Todd Simon postgame. “You get a lot of open looks and they didn’t fall, had a season-high turnover…ultimately you gotta make baskets, didn’t finish great but it doesn’t take away the legacy that these guys had with all the adversity, all the injuries, we could’ve packed it in and we didn’t.”
Senior forward Marcus Johnson led Bowling Green in scoring with a game-high 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers. The other two Falcons that reached double figures were redshirt freshman Jamai Felt who tallied 12 points and also grabbed six rebounds.
Junior guard Javontae Campbell also scored 10 points and played through injuries to both his hands.
“Javontae was playing with a broken right hand since Jan. 5, breaks his left hand two weeks ago, and says ‘I’m still playing,'” Simon said. “Just spectacular stories of resilience, and I just couldn’t be more proud of these guys with their fight.”
Akron had a spectacular game offensively, shooting 49.3% on 34-69 attempts from the floor. While Bowling Green shot 41.7% from the floor, going 25-60.
“They were finding the holes in [our zone defense],” Simon said. “I thought we were a step slow, but once they hit those first four 3s right off the gate, there are some Achilles’ heels to doing what we’re doing. They were able to exploit some of those things kind of.”
Points off turnovers were a big factor in the outcome of the game. The Zips earned 27 more points from BG giveaways with 32 total points from turnovers, while the Falcons only had five.
For the Zips, six players reached double figures in scoring. Leading the way was Bowen Hardman with 17, Seth Wilson had 15 on five 3-pointers, and Tavari Johnson and Shammah Scott each had 14 apiece.
The Zips came out of the gates hot, going on a 12-6 run at the first media timeout. Akron had early success shooting from three, with seven different Zips connecting from beyond the arc in the first half.
“I thought we were super unselfish, moving the ball, playing together,” Akron head coach John Groce said. “We got a group that really doesn’t care who shoots, as long as we get a great shot. And I thought they played that way today offensively.”
Akron’s Wilson converted three times from 3-point range, leading the Zips with nine points at halftime.
Meanwhile, the Falcons struggled on three-point shooting, going 1-11 in the first, with Johnson hitting the only three of the half. Bowling Green found themselves down as much as 24-9, but the Falcon’s 9-3 run cut the deficit to single digits.
The Falcons shot 11-32 from the floor in the first half, going 7-10 from the charity stripe as well. The Zips, however, were 13-27 and 11-21 from three.
In rebounding, Bowling Green out-rebounded the Zips 21-12. The Falcons also won the battle in the paint in the first 20 minutes, outscoring Akron 14-4 down low.
In a half that was won by Akron, the Falcons were down by 12 heading into halftime, with the score favoring the Zips, 42-30.
Akron hit another gear in the second half; while they were less efficient shooting from three, the Zips outscored the Falcons 54-37 while shooting just 27.8% from three.
The Falcons started the half promising as well offensively, but Akron was more than able to keep up. Extending their lead by as much as 37.
Bowling Green may receive an invite into a postseason tournament, but as of now, the season has come to a close in Simon’s second year with the Falcons.
Akron will advance to play the No. 4 seeded Toledo Rockets in the semifinals of the 2025 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament.
