This Valentine’s Day, Bowling Green (16-10) (7-6) had another date with the Toledo Rockets (13-13) (7-6), as the Falcons looked to improve to above .500 in conference play as the push for a spot in the MAC tournament heats up.
The last Battle of I-75 ended in heartbreak for the Falcons, with Toledo’s freshman guard Leroy Blyden Jr. hitting a game-winning three and the Rockets defending their home court.
BG had to deal with plenty of verbal abuse from the UT fans in that game, Falcon head coach Todd Simon remarked.
“You don’t love all the expletives and taunting…and stuff like that in the stands like we’ve faced at Toledo, but it’s part of it, it’s what you sign up for,” Simon said. “But we’re going to continue to win with class.”
Entering the first media timeout of the game, the Falcons fell behind early but took the lead 9-7, hitting two threes and playing physical defense. Toledo responded quickly to this physicality, and they hit a couple of threes of their own.
Bowling Green was making some tough shots and playing with a ton of effort, but the Rockets were playing some nice offense and spreading the rock.
UT would then go on a 9-0 run heading into the next media timeout, with the Orange and Brown missing some good looks and Toledo taking advantage on the other side of the floor.
The Falcons would quickly bounce back after the timeout, turning defense into offense and drawing a few fouls on the Rockets. The score with six and a half minutes remaining in the opening half was 25-23 in favor of the Midnight Blue and Gold.
Toledo would lose their lead over the Falcons a few moments later, with BG junior forward Aiden Goins putting in a couple shots, drawing a couple of fouls, and swishing his free throws.
BG would expand on their lead as the final media timeout of the half was called, 33 to 26, after senior forward Sam Towns made his second three and sophomore Mayar Wol sunk a turnaround fadeaway jumper.
Leaving the timeout, UT refused to allow Bowling Green to gain too much momentum at halftime, cutting the Falcon lead to just two points, 37-35, after it was up to as much as nine.
Goins had himself a career first half of basketball. He scored eight points in eight minutes, going 4-5 from the free throw line and bringing in four rebounds. Goins would end the night with just 10 total points, but the forward was the sparkplug the Falcons needed in the first.
“AG [Goins] the iso G.O.A.T., you know what I mean?” said BGSU sophomore guard Josiah Shakelford, who had 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting and three made from behind the arc. “He can do that every night.”
On the other side of the ball, junior guard Sonny Wilson was having a great game through one half as well, which has come to be of little surprise for the veteran guard, putting up 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, snagging three boards, and getting a steal.
The Orange and Brown came out of the locker room for the start of the second half hot. They made a pair of threes, broken up by a dunk from senior forward Troy Glover II, and went on a 10 to three run to start the half strong.
“To me, the story of the game was really how they started the second half,” stated Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “I think our defense, we gave up three baskets in the first three minutes off of the shot fakes.”
BG led 51-40 at the start of the first media timeout; they limited Toledo’s offense while getting good shots for themselves, drawing fouls with physical play, not settling for three-balls often, and limiting their turnovers to 11.
“First game [against UT] we had 16 turnovers, cutting that down to 11, taking care of the ball, y’know that great,” said senior guard Javontae Campbell, “Practiced that every day in practice, so I feel like that’s how we came out on top.”
Physical defense from BG continually forced the Rockets to take contested threes. Some of those threes fell, but not enough to close the growing gap between the two squads’ scores. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest, Bowling Green led 61-48.
After a few more minutes, the Falcons continued to hold onto a 11 point lead, 64-53, but had been brought to a stalemate on offense. Toledo was also receiving numerous second-chance opportunities while full-court pressing the Falcons at every opportunity.
Toledo would call a timeout after a beautiful floater by Wilson, but that would only cut the lead to 15, with Bowling Green still firmly in the lead, 72-57, thanks to a couple more made threes plus a well-run press break.
With just under four minutes remaining, Bowling Green maintained its double-digit lead of 74-62 and looked to close things out and shut the door on a possible Rocket comeback.
However, Toledo was not going to make it easy for the Falcons, as they continued to find ways to score and put constant pressure on BG. Despite the large lead, UT did not give up the fight, making things interesting until the final seconds.
The Falcons would salt out the win regardless of the late efforts of the Rockets, and the crowd inside the Stroh Center was loud as the final buzzer sounded. Bowling Green beat Toledo 80-70 and got their revenge for the loss to UT earlier in the season.
Campbell ended the game as he usually does, on top of the Falcon scoring column. The senior had 19 points on eight of 13 shooting, four boards, five assists and three steals.
The Orange and Brown spread the scoring around in this game, with four BG players reaching double digits. Campbell, Shakelford with 16, Goins and Towns, who also had 16 and received a compliment from Kowalczyk.
“I told him after the game, he’s really grown up. He’s skilled, he’s gotten tougher,” Kowalczyk said. “He had a big impact on the game tonight, a big impact.”
Towns, in addition to his 16 points on five for eight shooting with four made threes, had five boards, three assists, a steal and two blocks.
Bowling Green has now improved to fourth in the conference thanks to the win and a few tie-breakers they hold over other MAC teams, such as OU (13-13) (7-6). The Falcons will face off against Kent State (19-7) (10-3) in their next matchup back in the Stroh Center on Tuesday, February 17th at 7 p.m. EST.
Tune into Falcon Radio for coverage of that game with Tyler Kavelez and Artie Abrego on the broadcast, streaming on bgfalconmedia.com.
