Bowling Green State University mens basketball had difficulty shutting down Kent State 5-foot-10 junior guard Jalen Sullinger, who scored 30 points in leading the Golden Flashes to a 90-84 overtime victory over the Falcons at the Stroh Center Tuesday.

“It was a good college basketball game — back and forth a little bit and obviously we didn’t have what we needed on the defensive end,” said BGSU first-year coach Todd Simon.

“We had some uncharacteristic turnovers that led to the result. All-in-all, we have got to play better and win some more individual match-ups and do some better things as a team.

“We’ve been in those games and the ball didn’t drop at the crucial moments at the end of regulation and in the future hopefully they will.”

Sullinger’s speed was a little too much as he took advantage of picks set at the perimeter and curled around for easy baskets, making 10-of-19 field goals, including 3-of-6 from the arc.

In an up and down game that saw nine lead changes, 10 ties, and 183 shots taken, including 123 from the field and 60 free throws, it was Sullinger who quickly put the game out of reach in overtime.

Sullinger scored on a 10-foot floater on Kent State’s first possession, and then hit a triple on their next possession to give the Golden Flashes a lead they would not relinquish.

“They scrambled and we’re flying around and the ball drops,” said Simon. “That is the difference in the game is they were able to make some of those big shots down the stretch and they had some great individual performances.

“We’ve got to buckle down and do a better job over the course of a game.”

BGSU senior center Jason Spurgin added, “(That made it) very difficult, If they come down and make a couple shots in OT, you get behind the eight-ball and you miss a couple on the our end, we’re down possessions.

“I think we have to buckle up on defense, know they are coming down to make shots, and we just have to scramble around and try to get a possession where we can get a stop,” Spurgin continued.

Spurgin, who fouled out with 26.6 seconds remaining in OT, said it was not only the speed of the game that hurt the Falcons, but the physicality.

“It was definitely a physical game,” Spurgin said. “I think we need to manage ourselves a little bit better on where we are on the foul count.”

Sullinger, who was fouled seven times, making 7-of-8 free throws, also had four rebounds and two steals as his Golden Flashes outscored BGSU 13-2 in points off turnovers. The Falcons had 14 turnovers to Kent State’s seven.

Junior guard Marcus Hill led the Falcons with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Spurgin was 7-for-10 from the field, scoring 19 points with nine rebounds, two assists and the 7-footer blocked three shots.

BGSU senior forward Rashaun Agee put up a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds with two assists and senior guard Trey Thomas had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Senior guard Da’Shawn Phillip had nine points and three assists, sophomore guard P.J. Edwards scored four points, and senior guard DaJion Humphrey added two points for the Falcons.

The Falcons were 26-for-60 (43%) from the field, including just 6-for-23 (26%) from downtown, and made 26-of-34 (77%) free throws. The Falcons did control the boards by a 45-33 count.

Kent State shot 45% (31-for-63) from the floor, including 9-for-19 from the arc (47%), and was 19-for-26 (73%) from the line.

For the Golden Flashes, junior forward VonCameron Davis had 21 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists and senior forward Chris Payton Jr. contributed 10 points and two assists.

Cli’Ron Hornbeak, a 6-foot-9 junior center out of Toledo St. Francis, and graduate student guard Tyren Freeman scored eight points apiece for the Flashes.

Senior guard Giovanni Santiago had six points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, junior guard Mike Bekelja had five points and two steals, and sophomore guard Reggie Bass added two points for Kent State.

Kent State, which picked up its ninth straight win against BGSU, improves to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons fall to 14-5 and 5-2 going into Saturday’s matchup at the University of Toledo (2 p.m.).

“Our best basketball is in front of us,” said Simon “We are focusing on getting better in the next game and the next practice. Sometimes when you are winning like we are, that message isn’t always felt like it does after a loss.

“This is a pretty mature team but we’ve hammered home that the margin for error in this league is very slim,” Simon continued. “So, we’ve got to play very good basketball, we’ve got to do it for longer stretches.

“Particularly, in our deal, we’ll be shorthanded in not playing some numbers, but (injured 6-9 senior forward) Sam Towns will be back soon, so you are asking guys to maybe stretch out a little bit longer stretches than you are really comfortable with.

“We’ve gotten away with it so far but there comes some fatigue with that, too, and when you’re fatigued you have very minimal margins for error so you have to focus.”