Article published December 01, 2009
Falcons snap skid
Brown scores 20 to help beat Thomas' team
Bowling Green's Dee Brown battles for the ball against Florida International's Stephon Weaver, left, and Marlon Bright during the second half. Brown led the Falcons with 20 points.
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THE BLADE/LORI KING
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By DONALD EMMONS
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
BOWLING GREEN - Bowling Green State University led Florida International for most of the game.
And yet, the Falcons lacked offensive flow for much of the night against the Sun Belt Conference team coached by former Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas.
No matter, BG stopped a three-game losing streak by holding off an undersized, perimeter-oriented FIU team for a 67-62 victory before 1,915 fans at Anderson Arena.
While it may not have been a Mona Lisa-like performance, BG coach Louis Orr accepted the win.
"We persevered," Orr said. "We grinded it out. Our defense really got the job done for us even when they made their run in the second half."
Only two days after six Falcons scored in double figures in defeat, only Dee Brown, who finished with a game-high 20 points, and Scott Thomas, who added 10, did so against the Golden Panthers (2-7)."I thought Dee Brown came up big for us," Orr said. "When we couldn't get buckets, he manufactured them."
Brown, who grew up in Detroit, played perhaps his best game of the season while playing in front of Thomas, one of his childhood idols.
"It was a good motivator for me because as a basketball player as a youth, you always looked up to those types of players who were great and did great things throughout the game of basketball," said Brown. "I was excited. He was one of my favorites."
Thomas, who received the kind of applause not common for opposing coaches, said he appreciates such hospitality, which included a few fans wearing his Pistons jersey.
"It's always good to come back [near] Michigan, and it's always good to come back to the Detroit area," Thomas said. "Basically I was raised here as a kid, in terms of my professional career. I got here when I was 19 years old. The way the community embraced myself and embraced our team was probably the highlight of all of our careers, in terms of playing basketball and winning back-to-back championships."
Outside of Brown producing his best offensive showing of the season, the Falcons (2-3) exerted most of their energy on the defensive end, particularly down the stretch after the Panthers gradually whittled a 17-point deficit down to three points when FIU's Antoine Watson made a pair of foul shots to make it 65-62 with 39 seconds left in the game.
After Thomas made one of two free throws to make it 66-62 with 25 seconds left, BG's 6-foot-9 forward Marc Larson blocked a Watson jumpshot from near the foul line that would have cut the lead to two points.
Eric Marschall retrieved the loose ball, was fouled, and went on to hit one of two free throws to end the scoring for the Falcons.
The Falcons could have put the game away on the foul line but made only 14 of 27 free throws. FIU attempted only 13 fouls shots, making nine.
With a starting lineup that didn't include anyone taller than 6-foot-5, the Panthers didn't present much of a presence close to the basket.
"I thought our guys fought hard tonight, but Bowling Green was a little too big for us tonight," Thomas said.
The Falcons exercised their size advantage around the basket early, and it led to BG taking a 39-26 edge into halftime.
The Falcons scored 24 points in the paint during the first half. Their game plan was simple - win the game around the rim.
Otis Polk, a 6-9 post, scored seven points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including five offensive for BG.
"We got 15 offensive rebounds, and we got to the line 27 times," Orr said.
Marvin Roberts, Phil Gary, and Watson paced FIU with 13 points apiece.
ADJUSTMENTS: BG released a statement prior to the game regarding changes with how school officials will keep track of game scoring as a result of an error that occurred during Saturday's home contest with Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Two extra points were given in error to Wisconsin-Milwaukee that weren't detected until after the game tape was reviewed following the game.
Officials announced they replaced a part of the scoreboard equipment that may have been the cause for the scoring error. Also, an official spotter will be used at the scorer's table, and the statistics crew has also been moved from the upper press row to court level to improve overall communication.
DAKICH RETURNS: Former BGSU coach Dan Dakich was in attendance during last night's contest. Besides having coached at BG, Dakich has ties with Thomas. Both played at Indiana for coach Bob Knight.
Contact Donald Emmons at:
demmons@theblade.com
or 419-724-6302
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