Urbana Blue Knights vs. Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball final: No D-II debacle this time, BGSU rolls 96-55

Nearly one year ago, the Bowling Green Falcons faced the Ferris State Bulldogs, an NCAA Division II member. The Falcons eventually won 20 games during the 2014-15 season, but zero of those came against the Bulldogs. FSU came away from the Stroh with an 82-68 victory.

Today, BGSU had a chance to redeem itself when the Falcons hosted the Urbana Blue Knights of the Division II Mountain East Conference. Urbana stayed close for most of the first half, but Bowling Green clearly learned its lesson from last season, as they won an easy 96-55 decision.

The Blue Knights scored the first points of the game after just 14 seconds thanks to a layup from Austin Adams. BGSU's Rasheed Worrell earned the next four points, and the Falcons took a 7-4 lead on a three from Wes Alcegaire. Urbana came right back to grab an 8-7 lead on a three from Carlas Jackson, then took their final lead of the day at 14-13 on another Jackson three with 13:57 left in the first half.

Urbana fell behind by six later in the half but overcame that to tie the game one last time with 6:44 left in the half, when Jackson buried another triple. From there, the Blue Knights made just one field goal for the rest of the half and were outscored 16-4.

BGSU began that run with a 9-0 spurt, led by Worrell (four points) and Alcegaire (three). After an Urbana three, Spencer Parker closed the half with a trey and two free throws to give the Falcons a 42-30 lead at the break.

The Falcons began the second half by scoring the first 15 points during the opening 3:37 of the half. Parker, Worrell and Alcegaire again led the charge by scoring all 15 points. Parker added eight more to his personal total during the run. By the time Justin Johnson's jumper scored Urbana's first points of the half, they were down 57-32 and the game was over.

Bowling Green eventually outscored Urbana 54-25 during the second half and ended the game with a final margin of 96-55.

Eleven different players scored for the Falcons, and five of those posted double-figure scoring days. Parker and Matt Fox led the team with 15 points apiece, and all 15 of Fox's points came via his 5-for-6 day from beyond the arc. Zack Denny added 13, while Worrell and Antwon Lillard poured in 12 of his own. Alcegaire was 3-for-3 from long range and scored nine. Denny and Worrell were co-leaders with eight rebounds. Ismail Ali dished out a game-high 10 assists.

As a team, BGSU was 34-for-61 (.557) from the floor and 14-for-22 (.636) from beyond the arc. They also made 14 of 21 free throws. In the second half alone, the Falcons made 64.5 percent of their field goals. They outrebounded Urbana 44-34 and owned a 25-to-11 assists-to-turnovers ratio.

The Blue Knights made only 31.3 percent of their field goal attempts and only nine of 29 threes. Jackson buried five of those and led all scorers with 20 points.

Bowling Green is now 4-2 and will play two more home games this week. On Wednesday, Dec. 2, the Falcons host Maryland-Baltimore County at 8:00 pm, then host Drake at 4:00pm on Saturday, Dec. 5. Those will be their final home games of the calendar year, as BGSU plays four straight on the road after this week.