 BOWLING GREEN, OH. – Former Mid-American Conference coach Rick Majerus got a reminder Saturday of just how cold it can get in Bowling Green as his St. Louis Billikins offense took a third of the first half to thaw out and wasn’t a whole lot above freezing through halftime.
Majerus, who coached two seasons at Ball State before moving on to Utah, saw his team go scoreless for almost seven minutes after the opening tip. None of the St. Louis (9-5) starters scored during the first half, which ended with BGSU holding a 24-15 lead. That was an almost an identical margin to the final 24-15 advantage the Falcons had in points in the paint during the contest.
St. Louis’ top two scorers – Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed – combined to shoot 5-of-18 from the floor. Reed entered the game averaging almost a double-double. He finished with four points and no rebounds. Mitchell netted 13 points while hitting 4-of-13 from the field and 2-of-8 from behind the arc.
The only other double-figure scorer for St. Louis was Jon Smith, who came off the bench for 11 points and four blocked shots while making all five of his field goal attempts.
Bowling Green, playing its first home tilt since Dec. 3, was paced by center Otis Polk. He had 13 points and nine rebounds – one carom shy of his second consecutive double-double. Guard Dee Brown chipped in 12 points, while forward Eric Marschall contributed 11 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
Neither team shot particularly well from the floor, and each had more turnovers than field goals. St. Louis hit 17-of-45 from the field (37.8 percent) while committing 18 turnovers. Bowling Green made 19-of-47 field goal attempts while registering 20 turnovers.
A major plus for the Falcons, however, was free throw shooting. Entering the game as one of the poorest free throw shooting teams in the country, BGSU put 18-of-21 charity tosses through the home nets.
Bowling Green (7-5) never trailed, jumping out to a 9-0 lead behind a pair of baskets by Polk, a three-pointer from Scott Thomas, and a Marschall lay-up. St. Louis was unable to get closer than seven the rest of the way. After leading 24-15 at intermission, the Falcons extended their lead to as many as 20 points before a late Billikins run cut the final deficit to nine.
The victory improved Bowling Green’s home mark to 4-1. The Falcons return to the road and open their Mid-American Conference slate Saturday at preseason MAC favorite Akron (7 p.m.).
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