 BOWLING GREEN 87, MALONE 44
Calhoun set a school record by making all nine of his field goal attempts, all in the first half, as Bowling Green jumped out to a 17-point lead at the break and stepped down on the gas even more in the second half.
The Falcons outscored Malone 46-20 over the final 20 minutes, shooting 67.7 percent from the floor. Bowling Green shot better from the field, held Malone to a lower shooting percentage, and had less turnovers in the second half despite freely rotating players throughout.
All 14 players who saw court time scored as Calhoun led the way with a season-high 20 points. Cameron Black added a season-high 11 points and Torian Oglesby finished with a season-high 10. Those three went a combined 19-for-20 from the floor as Bowling Green scored 58 points in the paint. The Falcons also held a 28-0 edge in points off of turnovers and scored 27 fast break points.
Malone stayed in the game early and only trailed 28-22 on the strength of 4-of-7 three-pointers in the first 13 minutes. But the Pioneers missed all 16 of their three-point attempts the rest of the way.
Without the ability to stay in the game with the long range game, Malone was outscored 13-2 over the final seven minutes of the first half. The Falcons then put the game away with an identical 13-2 run to start the second half and took a 54-26 lead with 14:44 to play.
BGSU never let up, outscoring Malone 33-18 the rest of the way. In all, the Falcon bench scored a season-high 41 points.
The 43-point win was the largest of Louis Orr’s tenure as head coach and is the biggest since the Falcons defeated Urbana 114-52 on Dec. 22, 1999. The Falcons played unselfishly, racking up 25 assists on their 39 field goals. The 25 assists are the most since posting 25 against Towson on Dec. 22, 2008.
Calhoun’s 9-for-9 performance is one better than the previous school record of 8-for-8. Two players reached that mark, most recently Erik Marschall against Western Michigan on Jan. 24, 2007. The other was Brent Klassen against Marshall on Feb. 9, 2002.
Malone falls to 5-4 with the loss, while Bowling Green improves to 5-3 on the season. The Falcons will head on the road for the rest of the month, beginning with a game at Valparaiso Saturday at 8:05 p.m.
Courtesy of Bowling Green Athletics |
