Muncie, Ind. – In a game that saw both teams shoot over 50 percent for the contest, the Bowling Green Falcons knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers and committed a season-low five turnovers on their way to a wire-to-wire 79-65 road win over the Cardinals of Ball State on Saturday at Worthen Arena.
The Falcons, who got a dunk in the opening minute from Richaun Holmes, led from start to finish for the second straight game and lead by as many as 24 points in the double digit win.
With the Falcons' victory and losses by both Akron and Toledo on the weekend, BGSU grabbed sole possession of the MAC regular season lead with a 9-3 conference record.
The win pushed BGSU's winning streak to four games overall (three straight road games). Ball State, meanwhile, dropped its 10th straight game.
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The Falcons, who got a dunk in the opening minute from Richaun Holmes, led from start to finish for the second straight game and lead by as many as 24 points in the double digit win.
With the Falcons' victory and losses by both Akron and Toledo on the weekend, BGSU grabbed sole possession of the MAC regular season lead with a 9-3 conference record.
The win pushed BGSU's winning streak to four games overall (three straight road games). Ball State, meanwhile, dropped its 10th straight game.
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"The numbers are great. We shot above 50 percent. You know every time you can shoot above 50 percent, you're usually going to win," Bowling Green head coach Chris Jans saod. "We were a little disappointed at halftime. We thought that we were a little trigger happy with the three's.
“Our game plan was to try to go at them inside, especially with Kamieniecki out - that's just one more big guy that we didn't have to contend with - and we were trying to go at them and maybe get them into foul trouble and establish Richaun down there. I didn't think the three's we took were bad shots. They just didn't make quite as many as we'd have liked."
Richaun Holmes scored in double figures for the 12th straight game, as he posted a game-high 20 points, to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Zack Denny matched his career-high with 18 points, while Anthony Henderson added 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Ball State had five players in double figures in the loss, led by Francis Kiapway's team-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the game. Zavier Turner finished with 12 points, while Bo Calhoun and Franko House each tallied 11 points for the Cardinals. Calhoun also had nine rebounds, while Jeremiah Davis came off the bench to score 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes of play.
BGSU shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) for the game overall, including going 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) from behind the three-point line, while Ball State shot 53.5 percent (23-of-43) overall and 10-of-23 (50 percent) for long range for the contest.
However, the difference was the turnovers, as BGSU had just five turnovers and forced the Cardinals into 16 miscues over the 40 minutes of play.
Off the opening tip, BGSU fashioned a seven-point lead at 10-3 on a field goal in which a Ball State defender tipped the rebounded ball in to the Falcons' basket while trying to keep it away from a leaping Holmes at the 17:29 mark of the first half.
Following a 10-4 run by the Cardinals that saw Ball State get to within in one of the Falcons at 14-13 with 13:18 to play in the opening frame, BGSU answered with seven straight points from Henderson to jump-start a 12-2 explosion by the visitors to pull back out in front by 11 at 26-15 on a three-pointer from Jehvon Clarke at the 9:11 mark.
The next eight minutes would see the two teams' trade baskets back-and-forth until two straight free throws from Clarke, followed by a deep three-pointer from the senior guard as the half closed out, put the Falcons out in front by 11 at 36-25 heading into the halftime break.
Coming out of intermission, the Falcons made their first seven shot attempts, including three baskets and eight points from Denny, to build an 18-point lead at 51-33 on a driving left-handed layup from David Joseph with just over 15 minutes to go in the game.
The Falcons continued to hold on to a double digit lead for the next five minutes of play. A trey from Holmes, a steal and breakaway one-handed dunk from Henderson, and another three-pointer from the right corner by Denny capped off a 12-2 run to give BGSU its largest lead of the game at 24 points, 66-42, at the eight minute mark.
Bowling Green took a 24-point lead once again at the 4:48 mark of the second half on a jumper from Parker and looked to have the game won as Jans went to the bench with a 71-47 lead.
However, Ball State refused to give up. When it drained three 3-pointers in the midst of a 15-2 surge, BSU cut the Falcons' lead to 10 at 72-62 with just 2:26 to play on free throws from House.
Jans went back to his starters, who went 4-of-6 from the free throw line and then saw another three-pointer from Denny with less than a minute to play help seal the Falcons' 79-65 win.
BGSU outscored Ball State 24-16 in points in the paint, 16-13 in points off turnovers, 8-3 in second chance points, and 20-14 in bench points.
The Falcons were 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the free throw line, while Ball State was just 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) in the contest.
Bowling Green (17-6, 9-3 MAC) will return home to host Miami on Wednesday night, at 7 p.m. ET. Ball State will be at Kent State Wednesday (7 p.m. ET).
(Courtesy of BGSU Athletics)
“Our game plan was to try to go at them inside, especially with Kamieniecki out - that's just one more big guy that we didn't have to contend with - and we were trying to go at them and maybe get them into foul trouble and establish Richaun down there. I didn't think the three's we took were bad shots. They just didn't make quite as many as we'd have liked."
Richaun Holmes scored in double figures for the 12th straight game, as he posted a game-high 20 points, to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Zack Denny matched his career-high with 18 points, while Anthony Henderson added 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Ball State had five players in double figures in the loss, led by Francis Kiapway's team-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the game. Zavier Turner finished with 12 points, while Bo Calhoun and Franko House each tallied 11 points for the Cardinals. Calhoun also had nine rebounds, while Jeremiah Davis came off the bench to score 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes of play.
BGSU shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) for the game overall, including going 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) from behind the three-point line, while Ball State shot 53.5 percent (23-of-43) overall and 10-of-23 (50 percent) for long range for the contest.
However, the difference was the turnovers, as BGSU had just five turnovers and forced the Cardinals into 16 miscues over the 40 minutes of play.
Off the opening tip, BGSU fashioned a seven-point lead at 10-3 on a field goal in which a Ball State defender tipped the rebounded ball in to the Falcons' basket while trying to keep it away from a leaping Holmes at the 17:29 mark of the first half.
Following a 10-4 run by the Cardinals that saw Ball State get to within in one of the Falcons at 14-13 with 13:18 to play in the opening frame, BGSU answered with seven straight points from Henderson to jump-start a 12-2 explosion by the visitors to pull back out in front by 11 at 26-15 on a three-pointer from Jehvon Clarke at the 9:11 mark.
The next eight minutes would see the two teams' trade baskets back-and-forth until two straight free throws from Clarke, followed by a deep three-pointer from the senior guard as the half closed out, put the Falcons out in front by 11 at 36-25 heading into the halftime break.
Coming out of intermission, the Falcons made their first seven shot attempts, including three baskets and eight points from Denny, to build an 18-point lead at 51-33 on a driving left-handed layup from David Joseph with just over 15 minutes to go in the game.
The Falcons continued to hold on to a double digit lead for the next five minutes of play. A trey from Holmes, a steal and breakaway one-handed dunk from Henderson, and another three-pointer from the right corner by Denny capped off a 12-2 run to give BGSU its largest lead of the game at 24 points, 66-42, at the eight minute mark.
Bowling Green took a 24-point lead once again at the 4:48 mark of the second half on a jumper from Parker and looked to have the game won as Jans went to the bench with a 71-47 lead.
However, Ball State refused to give up. When it drained three 3-pointers in the midst of a 15-2 surge, BSU cut the Falcons' lead to 10 at 72-62 with just 2:26 to play on free throws from House.
Jans went back to his starters, who went 4-of-6 from the free throw line and then saw another three-pointer from Denny with less than a minute to play help seal the Falcons' 79-65 win.
BGSU outscored Ball State 24-16 in points in the paint, 16-13 in points off turnovers, 8-3 in second chance points, and 20-14 in bench points.
The Falcons were 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the free throw line, while Ball State was just 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) in the contest.
Bowling Green (17-6, 9-3 MAC) will return home to host Miami on Wednesday night, at 7 p.m. ET. Ball State will be at Kent State Wednesday (7 p.m. ET).
(Courtesy of BGSU Athletics)
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