BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University’s men’s basketball team fell behind by 11 points at halftime and couldn’t come all the way back, losing 72-66 to Queens University of Charlotte on Tuesday at the Stroh Center.

The Falcons suffered their fifth straight loss and dropped to 2-5 overall. 

Queens, a first-year Division I program transitioning from Division II, improved to 6-2.

“I thought the guys played extremely hard,” BGSU coach Michael Huger said in a statement. “We competed hard in the second half and got some really good stops. But we turned the ball over at critical times during the game and that led to their transition and easy buckets on the other end. That brought the lead up from one to eight. Now, we have to chip away and got it down to three.

“We have to be smarter. We have to be tougher. Those are the two things I saw tonight, but I liked the energy and effort we played with today."

The Falcons kept clawing back all second half and pulled within 60-59 on Rashaun Agee’s bucket just under the 5-minute mark.

However, BJ McLaurin scored on a putback at the other end for Queens.

A pair of Agee free throws with 39 seconds left brought BGSU within 69-66, but the Falcons never had a chance to tie the game the rest of the way and missed their final three shots, all from 3-point range.

BGSU’s Samari Curtis had a team-high 16 points with two 3-pointers, while Chandler Turner had 15 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks.

Kenny Dye had a game-high 24 points to lead the Royals, making 9 of 14 shots from the field with a 3-pointer and 5 of 8 attempts at the free-throw line. His teammate AJ McKee had 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks.

Curtis drained a triple for the first points of the game on the Falcons’ second possession, which was quickly matched by Kalib Mathews at the other end.

Turner scored another layup a minute later, accounting for the only other lead the Falcons had at 5-3.

The Royals worked up an 18-11 lead by the 10-minute mark in the first half, and eventually 40-29 by halftime.

Bowling Green shot 38 percent from the field overall (27-of-71), including 4 of 21 from 3, and made all eight free-throw attempts.

First Published November 30, 2022, 3:35 a.m.