BGSU men’s basketball (16-11, 7-7) entered Tuesday looking to build on their two straight wins with another home win against the Kent State Golden Flashes (20-7, 11-3).
However, the officials’ tight calls made it difficult for BG to find its rhythm, and KSU maintained enough momentum to secure the victory.
Kent State punched their ticket to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament, joining Miami (OH) and Akron.
The game had a slow start, with both offenses struggling to get anything going. The Falcons turned the ball over on offense, but made up for it with their impressive defense, which carried over from the Toledo game on Saturday.
Bowling Green took an early 11-7 lead over the Golden Flashes, with both junior forward Troy Glover II and senior guard Javontae Campbell picking up and-one opportunities, staying physical on both ends of the floor.
Heading into the first media timeout, Kent State senior guard Morgan Safford was cashing in from deep, which kept KSU alive early in the first half, going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and putting the game at 11-10 in favor of BG.
The Falcons continued to be physical inside, but Safford and the Flashes made things work from outside, hitting threes while the Orange and Brown struggled to do the same early on.
The Flashes tied things up at 16 points a piece with just under 10 minutes to go in the half, but shortly afterwards, Campbell would sink a free throw to make things 17-16.
Both teams were unable to score for a few minutes before Glover got himself a steal and took it coast to coast to throw down a dunk on the other end, causing a KSU timeout.
This opened up a Falcons’ 7-0 scoring run made possible by three steals and more strong play inside the paint. BG head coach Todd Simon called for a full-court press, and it was working perfectly. The score was 23-16 with Bowling Green in control.
Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff would receive a technical foul after a no-call by the officials. Campbell went one of two from the line on the free throws.
After the Falcons’ run, the Golden Flashes went on a run of their own to tie things up at 25-25, during which the Orange and Brown could not find a way to get anything going on offense.
This scoring drought continued for the Falcons, and they trailed 30-25 at the end of the first half. A big part of the Falcons inability to score in the first was their lack of three-point shooting. BG went 1-for-8 from deep in the first, while the Golden Flashes hit 6-of-16 from behind the arc.
At the opening of the second half, the Orange and Brown got back into the scoring column and traded a few buckets with Kent, who remained in the lead at 35-29.
Glover would go down with an upper-body injury shortly after and make his way to the bench on his own, but visibly in pain. He later returned to the game after spending some time on the bench.
Heading into the next media timeout, the Kent lead had expanded to 41-34, but the offense was much more productive than at the end of the first; the Flashes had also kept their scoring up.
Personal fouls became a story in this game, with both teams having players with three or even four fouls with over 13 minutes left in the contest. BG tried to continue their physical defense but was repeatedly called for reaching in.
“I feel like we just had to stay more solid on defense,” said Campbell. “We just got to keep our hands up, keep them back so the refs see it so they don’t call it.”
Despite the fouls mounting on both sides of the ball, KSU continued to hold onto their lead of seven, 48-41, over the Falcons with just about 11 minutes to go and heading into an officiating timeout.
Neither team had much offensive production for the next four minutes of game time, but thanks to a tough bucket with a foul and a three-pointer, the Golden Flashes led by eight with seven minutes left, but the Falcons began threatening with a couple of baskets of their own.
With 5:45 remaining on the clock, KSU senior forward Rob Whaley Jr. fouled out of the game on a shooting foul on Campbell, who went on to sink the two foul shots and tighten the Kent State lead to four points, 58-54.
But the Flashes would respond again, pulling ahead by nine, 65-56, with a little over three minutes in the game and putting themselves in position to put the game out of reach.
But after being quiet by his usual standards, Campbell would score nine straight points for the Falcons, closing the gap to two at 67-65, giving the Falcons a chance to come back.
KSU managed to close the door on the comeback, however, getting to the line and not allowing BG to score the points needed to make it interesting as the final seconds ticked away.
78-71 was the final score of the matchup, with Kent State taking the win over the Falcons, and snapping the Orange and Brown’s hopes of three straight wins and four consecutive conference victories.
“The guys played really hard. Did some good things,” stated Simon postgame. “Obviously, the game was 76 free throws and 55 fouls called, it kind of takes the flow out of it. Kind of got us behind the eight ball when we had three starters with two fouls pretty early in the first half.”
The fouls hurt both teams throughout the matchup, but the officiating crew called them both ways. Kent State secured the win despite numerous fouls, including a technical foul on their coach.
Campbell finished the game with 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, four assists, three steals, three boards and four fouls. He is two steals away from tying his single-season program record of 90, which he set last season.
Glover also had himself a solid game. The starting center had 17 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field, seven boards, a steal and five blocks.
Bowling Green will look to bounce back as major underdogs against the No. 22-ranked team in the country, the undefeated Miami Redhawks, on the road in Oxford, on Friday, Feb. 20, at 8:30 p.m.
