Before Friday's game at Toledo, an already-shorthanded Bowling Green team found out that a third starter was out for the season.
Undeterred, the Falcons led archrival UT for 31 minutes en route to a crucial 69-68 victory.
“What a college basketball game,” BGSU coach Todd Simon said. “This is what college basketball should be about — two good rivals, teams just absolutely playing their hearts out, blow by blow right down to the wire.”
Javontae Campbell — playing with a broken hand all season — made a putback layup with 1.6 seconds left to win the game and silence a previously rollicking near-sellout crowd at Savage Arena.
The Rockets attempted a long pass that deflected off Javan Simmons and went out of bounds with one second left. The Falcons ran out the clock on the ensuing inbounds pass.
“It’s obviously a disappointing loss,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “I never felt that we got our typical Toledo run.”
BGSU entered the night two games out of eighth place, with the top eight qualifying for the Mid-American Conference tournament. A win felt far-fetched after it was confirmed that Trey Thomas was lost for the season with a broken foot, joining Youssef Khayat and Sam Towns on the injury report. Instead, the Falcons played a complete 40 minutes at both ends of the court.
The Rockets — stymied by BG’s effective zone defense — shot a woeful 37.5 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3-point range. They were outrebounded 41-37 and allowed an offensive rebound on BG’s game-winning possession.
Bryce Ford was 1 of 6. Isaiah Adams was 2 of 9. Javan Simmons was 3 of 10. Toledo was 1 for its final 7 and had a 0 for 8 stretch earlier in the second half.
“Their zone was a big factor tonight. We didn’t handle it well,” Kowalczyk said. “Bryce really struggled shooting from 3. Isaiah really struggled shooting from 3. Bryce had all open looks. We’ve got to make them. We didn’t get enough in transition against the zone. We didn’t play fast enough. We didn’t push the ball and try to beat the zone down the floor like we had been doing. We played a little bit too slow tonight.”
In Toledo’s 84-71 win at BG in January, the Rockets outscored the Falcons 34-26 in the paint. BG more than reversed that number on Friday, with a 38-24 advantage. Sixty-two of the Falcons’ 69 points came in the paint or via 3s.
“Get to the paint — we said it all week,” Campbell said. “We’ve struggled in the paint a lot this year, so we’ve been working on it a lot. Getting 28 points was great.”
Using a seven-man rotation, Simon got creative and brought Campbell — a 26-game starter — off the bench in an attempt to stagger the scoring. All Campbell did was score a game-high 23 points and make the game-winning basket.
And he hasn’t practiced live since January because of his broken hand.
“I’ve gotten used to it,” Campbell said. “I’ve been treating it well, staying off the court a lot during practice. We’ve been taking it slow, being smart with it. But during the game, it feels like a regular hand.”
Derrick Butler — who played all 40 minutes — had 20 points, going off for 18 in the first half. Marcus Johnson scored 10, and DaJion Humphrey had eight points and seven rebounds for the Falcons.
With 21.6 seconds left and the score tied at 67, Sam Lewis went 1 for 2 at the free throw line, creating an opportunity for Campbell’s heroics.
Lewis finished with a team-high 21 points, keeping the Rockets in the game with 16 points in the first half. Wilson scored 13 points, Simmons had 10 points, and Ford had a career-high 11 rebounds.
Both teams struggled in the second half, combining for 59 points on 20-of-61 shooting.
“I feel like we were standing around a lot,” Wilson said. “That hurt us.”
The rivalry classic featured six ties and 14 lead changes.
And for just the fifth time since the turn of the 21st century, Bowling Green came out victorious in Savage Arena.
“Rivalries still matter,” Simon said. “At least it does in this community, and it does in our community. And it does to our guys. We wanted this game. They had this one circled. We wanted to get them back for winning at our place.”
First Published February 22, 2025, 1:08 a.m.
