Falcons Produce Strong Second Half Offensively, Fall Short Of Comeback Against Kent State

After falling behind at the halftime whistle, 41-28, the Falcons cut the lead down in the second half. Bowling Green trimmed the deficit down to as few as four with three minutes left, 80-76, and remained at that difference until 30 seconds on the clock, but couldn’t get over the hump to close the gap in the eventual 91-84 final with Kent State closing the game out at the line down the stretch with the final three points after having the score down to 88-84 in the late going. 

The Falcons were paced by Javontae Campbell’s double-double, scoring 26 points and hauling in 10 rebounds while also adding five assists, becoming the first Falcon this season to solely lead BGSU in all three stats this season in a game. Marcus Johnson added 21, including three triples, while Wilguens Jr. Exacte and Jamai Felt both narrowly missed double-doubles, combining for 19 points and 16 rebounds between the two. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons won the opening tip, but the first points went to Kent State with a jumper. Trey Thomas answered at the line for Bowling Green with two free throws, the first Falcon points of the night. 
• The Golden Flashes added a jumper. A three from Marcus Johnson swung the score to the Falcons, but Kent State matched with a three of their own. KSU tacked on two at the line for a 9-5 lead. 
• Bowling Green ended the brief burst by KSU with an and-one by Jamai Felt followed by another Johnson three, giving the Falcons an 11-9 lead at the first media timeout.
• Out of the break, Kent State made back-to-back buckets to push in front, but two Thomas free throws tied the score again, this time at 13-13.
• From there, Kent State put together an 11-0 run to take a 24-13 advantage. Javontae Campbell ended the run with a driving layup. Campbell followed with one at the line the next time down for a 24-16 score at the under-8 media break.
• Out of the timeout, Johnson got a hook shot to go for a 5-0 BGSU burst, but a Kent State layup ended the run. The two teams traded tip-ins with Wilguens Jr. Exacte getting BGSU’s, but two Kent State layups stretched their lead to 32-20, prompting a Bowling Green timeout that paired with the under-4 media timeout.
• After the break, Exacte made two at the line for the Falcons. Kent State made a layup, but Johnson responded the next time down. The back-and-forth continued with two Golden Flash free throws.
• Campbell kept the scoring going with a layup before trading free throws with the Flashes. A Kent State three closed out the half with a 41-28 KSU score.
• The Falcons started the second half by forcing a turnover. On the offensive end, Thomas threw the inbound up for an alley-oop to Felt. Johnson followed with a three the next time down for a 5-0 BGSU burst to start the half. Kent State put together two layups before an and-one for Campbell. KSU made another layup, but Exacte got a tip-in layup to go followed by another Campbell layup to force a Kent State timeout with the score at 47-40 KSU.
• A 5-0 run for Kent State pushed their score to 51-40, but the Falcons battled back with a 7-2 stretch. Thomas started the run with a three followed by another from Exacte. Kent made a layup for their two before a Campbell free throw made the score 53-47 at the under-12 media timeout. Out of the timeout, Kent State tallied a 9-2 stretch with Campbell making the BGSU points via layup.
• Three Bowling Green free throws, two from Johnson and one from Felt, cut into the lead but a KSU triple matched. Exacte got another tip-in for the Falcons, but a Kent layup answered. Felt added two at the line, starting a 7-2 BGSU run with Humphrey getting a layup and a three for a 69-61 score at the under-8 break.
• Kent State made two at the line followed by another Humphrey three. However, a Kent State and-one matched the points. Derrick Butler then hit two at the line, but Kent State again answered with a layup. The back-and-forth continued with a KSU layup and two Campbell free throws. Campbell followed with a layup for a 78-70 score at the final media timeout of regulation. 
• Kent State hit a layup after the timeout, but the Falcons responded with a 5-0 burst, coming from a Johnson three and two Campbell free throws, cutting the score down to 80-76.
• Each team made a layup with BGSU’s coming from Campbell, before trading two free throws each, with BGSU’s again coming from Campbell, keeping the difference at four, 84-80.
• Kent State tallied four points in a row, but a Johnson three and Butler free throw matched the points for an 88-84 score. Kent State added three down the stretch at the line for the 91-84 final. 

STAT LEADERS

• Javontae Campbell: 26 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
• Marcus Johnson: 21 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block
• Jamai Felt: 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block

FALCON STAT FACTS

• As a team, the Falcons made 27 free throws, tying for the most made in a game this season by BGSU. They also attempted 34 free throws, two shy of the season-high. 
• Javontae Campbell put together a full stat line for the Falcons. He recorded a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds while adding five assists and two steals as well. Campbell now has five 20-point games this season and while this marks his first double-double, he did have a triple-double earlier this season. 
• Campbell is the first Falcon to solely lead the team in points, rebounds and assists in the same game this season. 
• With his five assists, Campbell now has a team-leading 70 for the season, matching his career-high for assists in a single season. 
• After going 11-for-12 at the line in the first meeting against Kent State, Campbell followed it up with a 12-for-15 night in this game, the most free throws attempted in a game by a Falcon this season. 
• Marcus Johnson tallied 21 points for the Falcons, including five three-pointers to match his season-high for threes in a game. He now has a team-leading 11 20-point games this season. 
• Johnson also went 2-for-2 at the free throw line, extending his streak to 28 straight free throws made dating back to Jan. 18. 
• With Campbell and Johnson both reaching 20 points, the Falcons had two 20-point scorers for the first time since Jan. 14 against Buffalo. 
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte produced a strong game off the bench for BGSU. He tallied 11 points, one shy of his career-high, while adding seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end. He matched his season-highs for offensive rebounds (4) and blocks (1) while setting a new season-high for field goals made with four. 
• Jamai Felt just missed a double-double, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds. Felt added two assists, matching his career-high, and swatted his 39th block of the season. 
• As a team, the Falcons scored 56 points in the second half, their most second half points in a game this season. 

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
“It was kind of along the theme of what we’ve had in a number of games. We just can’t get over that hump. We get these things to a possession game and we’ve yet to put together a full 40 minutes. That’s something we have to continue to address. We certainly need to defend better. They won a lot of one-on-one matchups and scored a lot of points in the paint. Things we really need to shore up in order to have success. Second half we did a lot of good things on the offensive end, we won the battle on the glass, only had eight turnovers. You do those things and hold them to five threes, you think you give yourself a decent chance, but we were not very good defensively from two.”

UP NEXT

The Falcons take to the road for their next two games, marking two of their shortest road trips in conference play. Bowling Green will go against Toledo in the Battle of I-75 on Friday (Feb. 21) for a 6 p.m. tip on CBS Sports Network. From there, BGSU will head to Eastern Michigan on Feb. 25 for a 6:30 p.m. start. The next home game for the Falcons is set for 2 p.m. on March 1 when the Orange and Brown host Ball State. 

Follow the Falcons

Be sure to follow the Falcons’ men’s basketball team on social media

Twitter – @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMBB

Instagram – ‘bgfalcons’ and ‘bgsumhoops’

Facebook – ‘BGSU Athletics’

YouTube – ‘Falcon Athletics’