Bowling Green Falcons men’s basketball (11-6, 7-7) fell to the Kent State Golden Flashes (20-7, 11-3) 87-81 Tuesday night at the Stroh Center.  

The game was a stop-and-start battle with the two teams combining for 54 fouls through the game and 76 free throws.  

The flow of the game was filled with many stoppages, which made it difficult for the Falcons to find rhythm during the match.  

“It’s the opposite of what we are trying to do, we’re up, we’re trying to get the ball and go. We are trying to spread and attack and do all those things and when the game is just a whistle, I feel like every time down, it took away some of the aggressiveness,” head coach Todd Simon said. 

 The slow pace made it difficult for the Falcons to find a groove during the game with players getting into foul trouble early.  

“We got behind the eight-ball when we had three starters with two fouls pretty early in the first half with the lead and then we’re trying to buy time. I like to leave guys in, and risk getting a third, but the way it was, just the whistle every time down the floor, we couldn’t take that risk,” Simon stated. 

The players felt the flow of the game slow down but know they can fix the fouling issue 

“I feel like we just have to stay more solid on defense, we always practice it, but we just have to keep our hands up, keep them back,” Javontae Campbell said.  

BGSU would try and utilize their full court press but were not able to use it to the full potential with all the foul trouble.  

“You’re trying to press, but you also have three guys out there with four fouls. You’re maybe not as aggressive as you need to be and so then it just changes the game,” Simon said.   

This game ended up being the most fouls the Falcons would commit so far this season and becomes the ninth time that BGSU has fouled 20 or more times.  

Bowling Green is back in action on Friday, Feb. 20, as they travel to Oxford, Ohio, to face the No. 22 Miami (OH) RedHawks with tipoff set for 8:30 p.m. Falcon Media Sports Networks’ Tyler Kavalecz, Artie Abrego and Foster Roesti will have the live radio broadcast starting at 8:05 p.m. on Falcon Radio, streaming on bgfalconmedia.com.