KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team picked up their first MAC win, and first true road win, of the season, with an 83-79 victory over Western Michigan Tuesday night (Jan. 7) in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Falcons fell behind by as many as 14 in the first half, but an 11-1 stretch to close the first half pulled Bowling Green within four, 42-38. The Falcons continued to press forward in the second half, capturing the 83-79 final down the stretch. Bowling Green overcame a 14-point deficit in the win, the largest comeback win of the season so far for the Orange and Brown. The win puts the Falcons at 1-1 in the early going of the MAC schedule. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Western Michigan won the opening tip, but it was Bowling Green to score first. Trey Thomas got a runner to fall. WMU answered, but a three for Marcus Johnson came next to put the Falcons in front with a 5-2 score.
• The Broncos followed with back-to-back buckets. Javontae Campbell added one at the line for the Falcons for a 6-6 tie in the early going. The tie moved to 9-9 at the first media timeout with BGSU's points coming from a Wilguens Jr. Exacte three.
• The first points out of the break went to WMU, but the Falcons got five points the next time down the floor. Thomas hit a three and drew a foul. Exacte fought on the glass for the free throw, pushing the ball to Johnson for two and a 14-11 BGSU advantage. The Broncos worked to tie it at 14-14.
• Johnson broke the tie with a step-back jumper, but back-to-back layups for Western Michigan swung the score to them, 18-16. A hook shot from Jamai Felt knotted it up before a Campbell layup made it 20-18 at the under-12 media timeout.
• Western Michigan made a basket before Derrick Butler and WMU traded pull up jumpers to push the tie to 22-22 at the under-8 break.
• An 8-0 run for the Broncos pushed them in front for a 28-22 lead with BGSU taking a timeout. The run carried through the timeout, stretching to 15-0 with a 35-22 score.
• Campbell converted back-to-back layups for BGSU followed by Exacte drawing a foul, bringing about the final media timeout of the first half. Exacte split the free throws for a 35-27 score.
• Western Michigan utilized a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 41-27. Campbell ended the run by converting an and-one. Butler followed with two at the line for a 41-32 score.
• WMU added a free throw, but a 6-0 BGSU run followed. Thomas hit back-to-back threes for the Falcons, cutting the score down to 42-38 with a Bronco timeout. The score held to the halftime whistle with BGSU closing the half with an 11-1 stretch.
• The second half scoring started with a three from Western Michigan, sparking a 5-0 run. Butler traded buckets with WMU followed by a 6-0 BGSU run. A jumper from Thomas and layups from both Felt and Butler created the burst, cutting the WMU lead down to 49-46 at the first media break.
• WMU stopped the run, but a tip-in from Butler and a layup from Exacte off a Campbell block pulled the Falcons within one, 51-50. Western Michigan added two, but a free throw and layup from Butler tied the game up at 53-53.
• Bowling Green pushed in front with a coast-to-coast layup from Braelon Green. WMU matched the bucket for a 55-55 score at the under-12 media break.
• Coming out of the break, Exacte worked for a second-chance bucket to put the Falcons back in front. Thomas later followed with a step back three for a 5-0 run, 60-55 BGSU lead and Western Michigan timeout.
• The two teams traded layups with BGSU's coming from Johnson, but a 5-0 burst for WMU tied the score at 62-62 at the under-8 media timeout.
• Out of the break, WMU moved in front with two at the line, but a Johnson jumper knotted it back up. Thomas got a steal and score to swing the score back to BGSU, but a WMU layup matched for a 66-66 score.
• Felt put the Falcons back in front with the back-and-forth, slamming home two points to give BGSU a 68-66 lead at the final media timeout of regulation.
• Coming out of the break, Western Michigan made two free throws to tie the score at 68-68. On BGSU's end, Butler drew a foul and made two to push BGSU in front 70-68.
• Butler increased the Bowling Green lead with a slam followed by a Johnson jumper the next time down for a 6-0 BGSU run to force a WMU timeout.
• Two free throws for WMU cut into the lead, but a Campbell layup matched the two. WMU sank another at the line followed by Thomas hitting two to push the score to 78-71.
• Western Michigan made a layup and used their full timeout with 26.9 seconds on the clock and the score at 78-73.
• Thomas added two more at the line for the Falcons followed by a WMU layup and a BGSU timeout with the score at 80-75.
• The same sequence followed with Butler hitting the free throws this time to move the score to 82-77.
• Johnson added another at the line for BGSU followed by a WMU layup to move the score to the 83-79 final.

STAT LEADERS

• Trey Thomas: 22 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
• Derrick Butler: 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
• Marcus Johnson: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
• Javontae Campbell: 12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte: 8 points, 6 rebounds
• Jamai Felt: 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 blocks

FALCON STAT FACTS

• Trey Thomas tallied a season-high 22 points, his first 20-point game of the season and the fourth of his BGSU career. Thomas hit four threes in the game for the second consecutive game. 
• Derrick Butler concluded the game second in the scoring column with 19, including season-highs at the line, going 7-of-9. Butler added a season-high seven rebounds, tying for the team lead. 
• Marcus Johnson tallied 14 points for the Orange and Brown and tied Butler for the team-lead in rebounds with a season-high seven. 
• Javontae Campbell added another four steals to his season tally, giving him 48 on the season through 14 games. Campbell added 12 points, his 13th double-digit scoring game of the season. Campbell also logged his first block as a Falcon. 
• Jamai Felt swatted away a career-high four blocks in the game for the Falcons, four of a season-high seven for Bowling Green.
• Wilguens Jr. Exacte played a season-high 25 minutes for Bowling Green and finished with a season-high eight points to go along with six rebounds. 
• The win marks the first for the Falcons in MAC play and the first as a true away team this season. It also extends BGSU's winning streak over WMU to now three games. 

UP NEXT
Bowling Green will remain on the road for their next contest, heading to Muncie, Ind. for a matchup with Ball State on Saturday (Jan. 11) at 2 p.m. The Falcons will then return home for two consecutive home games, beginning with Buffalo on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. 

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