Bowling Green defeated Buffalo 74-68 on the Super Bowl Sunday matinee at the Stroh Center.

A large part of the victory was due to point guard Jehvon Clarke who was one assist away from a triple-double. Clarke had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists on the day. This was also Clarke’s first career double-double.

Buffalo came out of the gates extremely hot from three-point range, including Will Regan who hit three consecutive three pointers within the first five minutes that gave Buffalo an early 11-4 lead.

Regan had 17 points in the game, which was a Buffalo team high. Power forward Javon McCrea who leads Buffalo with 17.7 points per game was held under his season average with 14 points due to physical play down low by Cameron Black, Richaun Holmes and Josh Gomez who played extended minutes.

“He doesn’t stop the work, and I challenge him every day. We needed him, and he did a good job for us,” said coach Louis Orr.

With just less than 10 seconds to go until halftime, Holmes collected a defensive rebound who then passed to Clarke on the outlet pass where he went coast to coast and made a layup just before time expired. Although the Falcons played well in the first half, they still trailed the Bulls going into halftime 37-35.

There was a high amount of tension and emotion in this game, and this was not only shown on the court, but on the foul sheet as well. 46 total fouls were called, and there were a total of 51 total free throw attempts in the game.

This game also featured three technical fouls. One came at a crucial point in the game when there was just over three minutes of play left and the Bulls led 66-64. The technical came when McCrea was called for a blocking foul, which was his fifth of the game, and Buffalo coach Bobby Hurley was called for a technical foul on the sidelines. Spencer Parker made both technical free throws, on his way to a game and career high 23 points.

Parker played an assertive game, and kept attacking the basket. He was 10-14 from the line, and also had seven rebounds.

“Spencer is an attack guy, and is one of our most aggressive guys on the court,” said Orr after the game.

After the technical free throws and the foul shots, the Falcons led 67-66 with 2:28 left to play. The Falcons closed the door on the Bulls when guard JD Tisdale collected a missed three point-attempt and then passed the ball to Clarke who saw a wide-open Parker down court for an easy layup to make the score 72-66 with just under 30 seconds to play.

The Falcons will travel to Toledo Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to play against the Rockets.

“You have to keep playing and persevere, compete at a high level; you can’t take plays off, and you have to keep grinding,” Orr said.

Bowling Green is now 4-4 in MAC play this season and 10-11 on the season.