BGSU men’s basketball (11-4, 2-1) took down the UMass Minutemen (9-6, 0-3) in an overtime thriller, 101-100 behind Javontae Campbell with a career high of 47 points. With the Falcons taking the victory in the first-ever meeting between these two teams.
As the game started and both teams looked to find a rhythm, it would be Marcus Banks Jr. to knock down back-to-back threes to give the minutemen a quick 6-3 lead.
BGSU would not go back down as Javontae Campbell would give the Falcons the lead as he converts on the and one opportunity after a fast break layup, making the score 14-13.
Both teams would continue to jockey for position. The Orange and Brown would open the largest lead of the first half, at five, as Campbell would get the layup to fall.
After the Falcons took a five-point lead, the Minutemen would rattle off a quick 8-0 run in just under two minutes.
Going into the halftime break, both teams were tied at 34 apiece. Campbell would close out the half strong for the Falcons, scoring their last 10 points.
Out of the halftime break, Campbell kept the hot hand going for the Falcons, scoring the Falcons’ six points.
After a fight back into the game for the Minutemen, a Leonardo Bettiol layup would retake the lead at 63-62.
That lead-taking layup for UMass would come in the middle of a 12-0 run that was boosted by free throw attempts, where six of the points on this run came from the line.
The Falcons would not stop fighting, keeping the game within striking distance and whittling the lead down to a three-point UMass lead with ten seconds remaining at 86-83.
With less than ten seconds remaining, Campbell gets hit, attempting a three-pointer, and is sent to the line, where he knocked down all three and tied the game to send it to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Orange and Brown would knock down a quick three off the hands of Javon Ruffin to take the lead 89-86.
Those three from Ruffin would put the Falcons’ offense on the right track in overtime as they were able to outduel the Minutemen and take home their second road Mid-American Conference victory.
Next up for the Falcons is another road trip, taking on the Kent State Golden Flashes on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. Falcon Media Sports Networks’ Tyler Kavalecz and Foster Roesti will have the live radio broadcast on Falcon Radio starting at 6:45 p.m.
