MUNCIE, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team got back in the win column with a road victory over Ball State Tuesday, 81-72.
The Falcons took a two-point advantage to the half with a big 9-0 second half run securing the lead for the win. Bowling Green was able to utilize second chance points to their advantage, outscoring Ball State 16-6 in the stat. The Falcons will now return home for their next two games with a 15-6 record and 6-3 MAC standing.
“I thought our resilience was good in the second half,” BGSU coach Todd Simon said. “When we needed stops we were able to find them. I thought our guys were a little more locked in, especially when the runs started to come.”
Marcus Hill led the way for the Falcons with 28 points, his sixth-straight 20-point game. Hill shot 72% from the field, going 13-of-18.
He missed his first shot of the night, but proceeded to make his next 12 shot attempts. Jason Spurgin followed on the score sheet with 17 points, including a key triple and free throws down the stretch.
Rashaun Agee rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points to go along with a team-leading 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double in the last 13 games.
The Falcons won the opening tip, but it was Ball State with the first points of the game, coming with a layup. Trey Thomas swiped a steal to answer and dished it off to Marcus Hill in transition for the dunk and first BGSU points.
Ball State hit a three to reclaim their early lead before Hill tallied a step-back jumper, but another BSU bucket made it a 7-4 score at the first media break.
Out of the timeout, Rashaun Agee registered an offensive board and bucket. Ball State answered with an elbow jumper and a layup to push their lead to 11-6.
After two Agee free throws and a Ball State bucket, the Falcons tallied a 5-0 run to knot it up 13-13. Jason Spurgin got a second chance layup followed by a corner three from DaJion Humphrey.
Ball State responded to push back in front 15-13, but EJay Greer quickly gave an answer of his own, hitting a corner three to give the Falcons a 16-15 lead at the under-12 media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Ball State utilized a 5-0 run to take the lead back at 20-16 at the under-8 break.
The two teams traded points before a 5-0 BGSU burst pushed the Falcons in front 23-22. An Agee free throw was followed by a Spurgin putback and Hill swipe and score for the lead. A free throw for the Cardinals tied it at 23-23.
Agee swiped a steal for the Falcons and strong ball movement in transition found an open Spurgin for three to swing the score back to the Falcons, 26-23. A driving layup from PJ Edwards made it another 5-0 BGSU run, giving Bowling Green a 28-23 lead.
Ball State answered with a three, but an acrobatic layup from Hill extended the lead back to 30-26 Falcons at the final media timeout of the first half.
After the media timeout, Hill connected on his first three of the game to make it a 33-26 advantage and force Ball State’s first half use-it-or-lose-it timeout.
Ball State converted an and-one and a jumper before half to close the gap to 33-31.
Spurgin started the second half with a layup. Thomas soon followed with a corner three and then a driving layup from Agee gave the Falcons a 7-0 run to start the second half and a 40-31 lead.
Ball State hit two threes, interrupted by an Agee layup, to trim the lead to 42-37. Each team added a basket, with the Falcons’ coming from Hill, for a 44-39 score at the first media timeout.
Hill tallied a layup out of the timeout, but a 5-0 Ball State run cut the lead down to 46-44.
The Falcons answered with a 5-0 run of their own. Greer hit a free throw followed by layups from Hill and Edwards for a 51-44 lead to force a Ball State timeout.
Ball State continued to chip away at the lead. A three-point play and a three, interrupted by a Hill fastbreak layup off an Edwards steal, got it to 53-49. Another three for the Cardinals got it down to a one-point game at 53-52. Hill hit a jumper for BGSU to push the score to 55-52.
The Hill jumper jump started an 8-0 BGSU run with Thomas and Hill hitting threes from nearly the same spot on the floor in back-to-back possessions to push the lead to 61-52 at the under-8 media break. Agee hit a free throw after the timeout to make it a 10-point lead and 9-0 run.
The two teams began trading baskets with the lead staying intact up to 68-58 before a 68-60 score at the under-4 media timeout.
The Cardinals tallied a 6-0 run to trim the lead to 68-64. On the next BGSU possession, Thomas drew a foul from behind the arc with one second left on the shot clock. He hit all three free throws to push the lead back to 71-64.
Spurgin continued the BGSU push with a three the next time down to get the lead back to 10 for the Falcons at 74-64.
The Falcons and Cardinals traded points down the stretch with Bowling Green securing an 81-72 final for the win.
The win moves BGSU to 15-6 on the season, the most wins in a season since 2019-20 (21). The Falcons are also now 6-3 in MAC play, the most MAC wins since 2021-22.
As a team, the Falcons shot 51.8% from the field marking the fourth time this season BGSU has posted a team field goal percentage north of 50%. In those games the Falcons are 4-0.
Marcus Hill tallied a team-leading 28 points for the Falcons, his sixth-straight 20-point game and 12th of the season. Hill was an efficient 13-of-18 from the field and 2-of-2 from three.
Jason Spurgin tallied 17 points for the Falcons, including 2-of-3 from three and 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Spurgin added seven rebounds, including four offensive to match his season-high.
Rashaun Agee finished with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds to mark his ninth double-double in the last 13 games. Of Agee’s 10 boards, five came on offense and five came on defense. Agee also matched his career-high for steals with two.
Trey Thomas recorded a team-leading four assists for the Falcons. Thomas has now led BGSU in assists five times this season. Bowling Green is 5-0 in those games.
P.J. Edwards led the Falcons with three steals in the game, matching his career-high. EJay Greer logged one of BGSU’s three team blocks, going down as his first block at the collegiate level.
The win snaps a two-game losing streak on the season for BGSU as well as a four-game losing streak against Ball State all-time.
Bowling Green finishes the month of January with a record of 6-3. Between the months of December and January the Falcons have posted a record of 11-3.
The Falcons will return home to the Stroh Center for their next two games. BGSU will host Central Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 3) for a 5 p.m. tip. Bowling Green will then take on Buffalo inside the Stroh Center on Tuesday (Feb. 6) with a 7 p.m. start.
