MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Bowling Green squandered a 16-point lead Saturday at Central Michigan, but Justin Turner came to the Falcons’ rescue.
The redshirt sophomore scored 25 of his 30 points after halftime, sent the game to overtime with a clutch final minute, and paced the Falcons in the extra period for a 97-87 victory at McGuirk Arena.
The Falcons (11-5, 3-0) have won their first three Mid-American Conference games for the first time since January, 2005.
Bowling Green led for most of regulation and held a comfortable 54-38 lead in the second half before the Chippewas (13-3, 2-1) charged back into the game. CMU mounted a 28-9 run to overtake the lead with just more than six minutes to play in regulation, then stayed ahead of BG until the final minute.
With CMU ahead 78-74, Turner scored on a driving layup with 43 seconds to go, after which the Falcons earned a defensive stop. Turner drew a foul with 7.5 seconds to play, sank both free-throw attempts to tie the game, and then stole the ball before CMU could attempt a shot at the other end to force overtime.
Turner poured in 12 of BG’s 19 points during the overtime, in which the Falcons never trailed. He finished 10-for-22 from the field, 7-for-7 from the line, and led BG with six assists. Demajeo Wiggins had a game-high 16 rebounds, while Michael Laster added 18 points off the bench for the Falcons.
Antwon Lillard and Dylan Frye scored 11 points each for BG, and Matiss Kulackovskis scored all of his 10 points in the first half.
Larry Austin scored 26 to lead Central Michigan, which lost at home for the first time this season.
Bowling Green has now won seven consecutive games, all of them by double-digit margins. The Falcons return home for a 7 p.m. Tuesday game against Ball State.
First Published January 13, 2019, 12:19 a.m.
