Toledo's Anthony Byrd goes in for a lay-up / Photo: Nate Thompson
TOLEDO Nate Millers layup with less than seven minutes remaining in the game put Bowling Green ahead by 13 points over Toledo Wednesday night. Just over four minutes later, the Rockets had cut the Falcons lead to 52-50. However, the Falcons did not fold.
Instead, Brian Moten nailed a huge 3-pointer from the left corner and Darryl Clements made 3-of-5 free throws in the final 30.1 seconds to help BG slip past its arch-rival, 59-54. Its the first time since 1972-73 that both the BG football team and mens basketball team were able to win at Toledo in the same academic year.
That was probably a classic MAC battle where two teams were fighting and clawing and trying to figure out how to win a basketball game, said UT head coach Gene Cross. They made the plays necessary to win. When the plays presented themselves to us, we didnt make them.
The victory was the sixth straight for the Falcons, 14-9 overall and 7-2 in the Mid-American Conference. BG has won four straight road games during its winning-streak.
Its always good to get a win, period. But to win on the road against your rival thats something real big. For me, Brian and Nate, this is our last year playing here and we just wanted to make sure we went out with a win, Clements said.
The Falcons started strong and held a 15-4 lead eight minutes into the game. Two 3-pointers from Joe Jakubowski late in the first half helped BG claim a 33-24 halftime lead.
BG stayed the course to start the second half and then built its 13-point lead with 6:44 left. The Falcons were still up 50-39 with 5:24 to play, but Jonathan Amos scored seven of his game-high 21 points to help the Rockets pull within two.
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Nate Miller goes up for 2 of his 14 points Wednesday night.
Photo: Nate Thompson |
It was getting kind of hectic. We have three seniors on the team and we all three know how to lead, Clements said. When you have a guy like Nate Miller on your team, and Brian, they dont let you keep your head down. When it got hectic, we all three came together and just told each other to keep our poise. That helped us out and we stayed together.
On BGs possession after UT closed to within two, Chris Knight got the ball along the baseline under the basket. However, he was double-teamed and could not get a good angle to take a shot. Instead he fired a pass to Moten in the corner and the senior buried the 3-pointer to give the Falcons some breathing room. Knight took charge in the final seconds and grabbed a key rebound.
That was huge. They were making a run. Chris got the ball and he saw B Mo out there and as usual B Mo hit a big shot, Jakubowski said. Hes making big plays and at the end the team that makes the most plays wins.
After Motens three, Amos and Clements traded two successful free throws each.
Amos then missed twice from the line with 19.9 seconds left and Knight got the rebound. Knight was fouled and split a pair of foul shots to make it 58-52 with 18.6 seconds remaining.
Larry Bastfield converted a layup for UT to cut the lead back to four points.
Clements closed things out, splitting a pair from the line with 8.6 seconds left.
Our guys are showing great will at the end of games, Orr said. We took a couple of big charges, made a big three, made our free throws down the stretch and our guys didnt quit.
They held onto the lead and made the plays at the end. They deserve a lot of credit for that, Orr added.
The Falcons had another good game on field goal defense, holding Toledo to 36.4 percent shooting from the field, including a 1-of-11 effort on 3-pointers (9.1 percent).
Them sitting back in their zone affected our aggressiveness, Cross said.
They defended really well, Amos said. They tried to play in the passing lanes and play real physical.
Clements led BG with 15 points and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Miller contributed 14 points and seven rebounds.
NOTES: Toledo is 4-20 overall and 2-8 in the MAC ... Amos shot 19 of UTs 20 free-throw attempts, making 13 ... The Rockets had won nine straight home games against the Falcons with BGs last win in Toledo, before Wednesday, coming on Feb. 6, 1999 ... The last time BG won six straight conference games was in January and February of 2001 ... Clements has 202 assists and he is the first Falcon with 500 or more career points, 250 or more career rebounds and 200 or more career assists since Steven Wright (2003-06).
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