 VALPARAISO 82, BOWLING GREEN 79 Bowling Green fought back from 12 points down in the second half to take multiple leads late, but Valparaiso made enough plays down the stretch to hold on at home. The Falcons fall to 0-3 on the road in 2011-12 but are 5-1 at home.
Calhoun and Crawford combined for 37 of Bowling Green’s 50 second-half points, helping the Falcons shoot 54 percent from the field. Calhoun’s 25 points was a season-high and just one shy of his career-high.
After taking a 37-29 lead into the break, Valparaiso scored six of the first eight points in the second half to build a 43-31 lead. The Falcons quickly cut the deficit in half with dunks on three consecutive possessions, two from Calhoun and one from Scott Thomas, to get within six. Valparaiso extended the lead back to 11 with 13:02 to play, but Bowling Green began to chip away at the lead.
The Falcons scored nine straight points, seven from Calhoun and two from Crawford, to make it 50-48 with 10:45 to go. After Valparaiso stopped the run on a Hrvoje Vucic lay-up, Thomas made the Falcons’ first three-pointer of the game to get BG within one.
After Valpo’s Matt Kenney missed a three-pointer, Torian Oglesby connected on an alley-oop from Thomas to give Bowling Green its first lead since midway through the first half.
For the next seven minutes, the two teams traded the lead back-and-forth, with neither team ever leading by more than two. Calhoun scored on a step-back jumper in the paint with 1:59 left to put the Falcons on top 71-70. On the next possession, Oglesby picked up his fifth foul and was charged with a technical foul. Valparaiso made 3-of-4 free-throws for a 73-71 lead.
Calhoun was fouled posting up on the low block with 1:19 left, and he made one free-throw to get Bowling Green within one. Valpo’s Kevin Van Wijk was fouled and made 1-of-2 with 1:04 left to put the Crusaders back up by two. With 40 seconds left, Crawford was fouled as he drove through the line and went to the line.
Crawford missed both free-throws, and Bowling Green needed to foul to stay in the game. Valparaiso made all six free-throws down the stretch to seal the 82-79 win.
Bowling Green had four players score in double-figures as Thomas had 14 points and Dee Brown tossed in 10. Thomas added seven assists and three steals.
The Crusaders had a march to the free-throw line, making 26-of-33 on the night. Bowling Green was 17-of-26 at the stripe. Valparaiso held a 30-25 rebounding edge, but the Falcons negated that with just 11 turnovers, six less than the Crusaders. Bowling Green also had a season-high 11 steals.
In the first half, Bowling Green jumped out to a 10-4 lead but Valparaiso held the Falcons scoreless for almost six minutes to take a 21-15 lead. The Crusaders led by as many as 10 on two occasions in the opening frame and took a 37-29 lead into the break.
Valparaiso improves to 7-3 with the win; Bowling Green falls to 5-4. The Falcons have a week off before playing at Michigan State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Courtesy of Bowling Green Athletics
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