CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team kicked off the 2024-25 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament in Cleveland on Thursday (March 13) inside Rocket Arena. Bowling Green took on the top-seeded Akron Zips in the first game of the tournament on the men's side. For the Falcons, Marcus Johnson led the way with 23 points, including five three-pointers, while Jamai Felt added 12 points and Javontae Campbell tallied 10 points and swiped four steals for the Orange and Brown. Despite the efforts, Akron came away with a 96-67 final. For Bowling Green, the loss closes out a stretch to end the year that included wins in seven of their last 11 contests. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons won the opening tip of the game, but it was Akron with the first points, hitting a corner three. Derrick Butler hit a stepback jumper for the first BGSU points, but a pair of Akron threes followed for a 9-2 advantage. 
• Jamai Felt ended the 6-0 Akron run with a layup for the Falcons. Marcus Johnson added a layup of his own the next time down, but the Zips answered with another three, making it a 12-6 score at the first media timeout of the half.
• Out of the timeout, Akron hit two more threes, giving them their first 18 points on three-pointers without attempting a shot inside the arc. Johnson ended the run with a jumper. Akron converted a three for a 21-8 lead, resulting in a BGSU timeout in the midst of a 12-2 Zip run.
• During the timeout, a review resulted in a flagrant foul against Akron. Javontae Campbell converted one at the line for BGSU. The Zips attempted their first shot inside the arc of the game, missing a jumper. 
• After three minutes of scoreless basketball on both ends, the Zips sank a three, but a layup from Campbell answered for the Falcons followed by two at the line. An Akron three ended the BGSU burst. Campbell immediately responded with another layup and then swiped a steal on the inbound that resulted in an Akron foul and media timeout with the score at 27-15.
• Out of the timeout, Derrick Butler went to the line, making one with Johnson tipping in the miss on the second for a 5-0 BGSU spurt. Two at the line Akron ended the burst, their first free throws of the game. Butler made a jumper off an inbound for the Falcons, but Akron matched with two at the line for a 31-20 score at the final media timeout of the first half. 
• Out of the break, Campbell went to the line and converted a pair, but an Akron alley-oop matched the points followed by one at the line. For the Falcons, Johnson hit a corner three off a Jamai Felt rebound for the team's first triple of the game. Felt added a putback layup on the next trip, but Akron evened the sequence with a layup and three of their own for a 39-27 score.
• DaJion Humphrey made one at the line for BGSU, but a corner three for the Zips followed. Before the half, Braelon Green made a layup for the Orange and Brown, making it a 42-30 halftime score.
• Akron made a layup for the first points of the second half, but Humphrey answered on the BGSU end with an Akron goaltending call. The layup battle continued with Akron making another followed by one for Felt. The same sequence repeated with an Akron layup followed by one from Felt.
• The back-and-forth continued with a Zip layup before Humphrey drew a foul and went to the line, making two for a 50-38 tally at the first media timeout.
• After the break, Akron made one at the line followed by two layups for a 5-0 burst and 55-38 lead with the Falcons taking a timeout.
• The Akron run reached 7-0 after the timeout, ending with a three from Johnson for the Falcons. The Zips made a layup, but another three from Johnson answered. Akron matched the points with an and-one for a 62-44 tally.
• The back-and-forth continued with Felt making a second-chance layup, but a three for Akron came as the response. Another three pushed the Akron lead to 68-46 at the under-12 timeout. The Zips added the free throw after the break for a four-point play.
• For Bowling Green, Campbell earned a trip to the line, making one. Three layups and two free throws for Akron stretched their run to 15-1. The run ended with Johnson locating Felt for a dunk. After the Felt dunk, Akron sank a three to carry their lead to 80-49 at the under-8 media timeout.
• Coming out of the break, the Zips added to their advantage with a three and a layup for an 8-0 run. Green ended the run with a pull up jumper. Wilguens Jr. Exacte made two at the line, but an Akron layup ended the BGSU spurt.
• Akron hit a three before another Green layup coming off a steal, but an Akron jumper answered the points. Butler followed with a layup for BGSU, moving the score to 92-57 at the final media timeout of regulation.
• After the media timeout, Akron converted a layup but the Falcons were able to respond with a Johnson three before a spinning layup in the paint for a 5-0 run on his own. The Johnson run was halted by two Zip free throws. After the trip to the line, Johnson went back to work with his fifth three of the game. Green added a layup for the 96-67 final.

STAT LEADERS

• Marcus Johnson: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assist, 1 steal
• Jamai Felt: 12 points, 6 rebounds
• Javontae Campbell: 10 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 4 steals
• DaJion Humphrey: 5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal
• Braelon Green: 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

• Javontae Campbell swiped four steals in the game, bringing his season total to 90. Not only did Campbell break the program record for steals in a season, but he finished fifth in MAC history. 
• Campbell finished the game with 10 points and a team-high four assists. Campbell either solely led the team or tied for the team lead in assists in each of the last five games as well as six of the last seven.
• Marcus Johnson finished with a team-high 23 points, giving him 519 on the season. With Johnson surpassing the 500-point mark, BGSU has had a 500-point scorer in three straight seasons for the first time since having four straight from 2004-07. 
• Johnson's 23 points marked his team-leading 13th 20-point game of the season. Johnson finished with five three-pointers in the game, matching his season-high, now with 78 on the season, one shy of tying for sixth on the program's all-time list for three-pointers in a season. It's also the first time a Falcon has had five threes in a game since Johnson had five against Kent State on Feb. 18. 
• Jamai Felt recorded 12 points for the Falcons, finishing second on the team in scoring. It marked his sixth time this year with double-digit points in a game. 
• DaJion Humphrey tied for the team-lead in rebounds, hauling in seven. The total matched Humphrey's career high for both total rebounds and defensive rebounds. 
• Braelon Green added eight points and four rebounds to the BGSU effort. His eight points were the most for him this season against a MAC opponent while he also matched his season-high for free throws made with four. 

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