BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team closed out the 2024 calendar on Monday (Dec. 23) with an 87-62 win over Aquinas College inside the Stroh Center. The Falcons led wire-to-wire in the game with Marcus Johnson hitting a three for the first basket of the contest and not looking back. Johnson led all scorers with 20 points while shooting 80-percent from the field. Javontae Campbell stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the first BGSU triple-double since 2007. Jamai Felt added 13 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double while Derrick Butler added 18 points of his own in the win. For the Falcons, the team will now transition to MAC play, beginning at home against Akron on Friday, Jan. 3 at 6 p.m. with a national TV broadcast on CBS Sports Network. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Marcus Johnson opened the game with a three for the Falcons. Aquinas got on the board with a bucket, but a Johnson layup answered. The Saints added two at the line. Trey Thomas joined the scoring column with a three followed by an Aquinas jumper for an 8-4 score.
• Jamai Felt tallied back-to-back baskets with Derrick Butler slamming home a BGSU dunk for a 14-6 lead at the first media timeout following a 6-0 BGSU run.
• Out of the media timeout, the Saints hit a three, jump-starting a 6-0 burst, cutting the score down to 14-12 at the under-12 break.
• Johnson added another BGSU layup, but two Aquinas free throws kept the difference at a possession. Campbell sank back-to-back layups for Bowling Green with Aquinas making two more free throws, carrying the score to 20-16.
• Preston Squire hit his first three of the game followed by another pair of Saint free throws and a Campbell layup for a 25-18 BGSU lead at the under-8 media timeout.
• Johnson and Aquinas traded layups after the break, but three-pointers from Johnson and Butler extended the BGSU lead to 33-20 at the under-4 break.
• The Falcons kept the pressure on after the timeout. Two free throws from Felt along with threes from Johnson and Greg Spurgin made it a 14-0 BGSU run. 
• Aquinas responded with a 5-0 burst, taking their use-it-or-lose-it timeout with just under a minute left in the half with a 41-25 score.
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte added a layup before the halftime break, making it a 43-25 BGSU advantage at the midway point.
• A jumper for Aquinas started the second half, but Thomas quickly answered for the Falcons. Back-to-back dunks for Felt made it a 6-0 run.
• The Saints ended the run with a three, but Butler responded with a three of his own. Aquinas hit back-to-back layups before the next BG bucket.
• Butler converted a layup followed by an Exacte three for a 57-34 score at the first media timeout.
• A free throw from Campbell and a Spurgin layup added three to the BGSU tally, but an 8-0 run for Aquinas cut into the deficit, 60-44 with a timeout from the Bowling Green bench. 
• BGSU made three at the line to match an Aquinas three-pointer. The back-and-forth continued with a Thomas layup and Butler three plus a foul going into the under-8 media break with a 68-52 Bowling Green lead.
• Butler converted a free throw for the four-point play, but Aquinas answered with a 7-0 run to cut the score to 69-59 with a BGSU timeout.
• Butler made a layup after the timeout to stop the run, but a three for the Saints matched the bucket. Johnson hit a layup followed by two Campbell free throws for a 75-62 score at the final media timeout of regulation.
• Coming out of the break, Felt added an and-one for the Falcons. Butler tallied a layup followed by another and-one, this time from Johnson. Spurgin made two free throws and Exacte added a tip-in layup, closing out the game with a 16-0 BGSU run for the 87-62 final. 

STAT LEADERS

• Javontae Campbell: 11 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 steals
• Marcus Johnson: 20 points, 2 rebounds
• Derrick Butler: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
• Jamai Felt: 13 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
• Trey Thomas: 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte: 7 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
• Greg Spurgin: 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

• As a team, the Orange and Brown tallied 49 rebounds, marking the most this season. Additionally, BGSU added five blocks, matching the most this year, having five against Davidson as well. 
• Javontae Campbell topped the stat sheet for the Falcons, logging the first triple-double by a BGSU player since Nate Miller against Buffalo on Feb. 13, 2007. Campbell finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Bowling Green. Campbell joins Buffalo's Tyson Dunn as the only MAC players this year with a triple-double. It also marks just the 11th triple-double in the nation this season. 
• Campbell is the first player with double-digit assists for the Falcons since Samari Curtis had 10 against Norfolk State on Dec. 14, 2022. He also tallied five steals in the game, giving him 41 this season, his third time this year with five steals in a single season. 
• Jamai Felt added a double-double for the Falcons, the first of his career. Felt tallied a season-high 13 points while adding 11 rebounds, tying with Campbell for the team lead. Felt is the first Falcon this year with a double-double. 
• This is the first time this season BGSU has had two players log double-digit rebounds in the same game as well as the first time this season BGSU has had multiple double-doubles in a game. 
• Marcus Johnson finished with a team-leading 20 points for Bowling Green, his fifth 20-point of the season, the most by anyone on the roster.
• Derrick Butler added 18 points and five rebounds to the BGSU effort, including a season-high three offensive rebounds to match his career high. 
• Trey Thomas hauled in four rebounds for the second-straight game while also registering a season-high two offensive rebounds, matching his career-high. 
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte filled the stat sheet for the Falcons. He tallied a season-high seven points for the second straight game while adding a career-high seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end alone. Exacte added his first collegiate block and his first steal as a Falcon to his stat line. 
• Greg Spurgin returned to the court for Bowling Green, logging just short of 13 minutes of action. Spurgin tallied a career-high seven points and a career-high two rebounds to go along with his first steal of the season. He also hit his first three-pointer as a Falcon. 
• Preston Squire played the most minutes off the bench for Bowling Green, logging 16. He tallied his first two collegiate blocks in the game, leading the team. 
• Mohamed Maxamud made his BGSU debut, bringing down a rebound for the Orange and Brown in the game. 

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Good to go into the break with a win. It was one of those games where we needed to work on us and be good at our basics, just find our way. You lose your confidence a little bit when things don't go your way. It was good to have some guys back. We had Greg Spurgin make his debut coming off his injury and I thought he played really really well. Obviously we had some really good individual performances, some guys stepping up. Javontae [Campbell] with a triple-double and five steals, Marcus [Johnson] shoots 80-percent as Marcus does and Jamai [Felt] gets a double-double. Across the board we had some good individual performances. "

UP NEXT
The Falcons will be back at home to begin the new year, hosting Akron on Friday, Jan. 3 to begin the MAC portion of the schedule. The game is set for a 6 p.m. tip on CBS Sports Network.  

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