Falcons fall to Colonials

BOWLING GREEN -- George Washington used a red-hot shooting performance from behind the 3-point arc to beat the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team Wednesday in the final game of the Progressive CBE Classic at the Stroh Center.

The Colonials made 5-of-6 3-point attempts in the first half, then made their first five 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the second to post a 77-56 win over the Falcons (3-2).

Lasan Kromah made his first five 3-point attempts as George Washington connected on 11-of-17 shots from behind the arc (64.7 percent) in the contest.

"These guys were making every open shot, so the only way you were going to make them miss was to guard them," BG coach Louis Orr said. "We've gotten better with our defense, but the game got away from us in the second half."

Kromah finished with 21 points and also had eight rebounds to lead George Washington (4-1), while Aaron Ware came off the bench to score 14 points. A total of 10 different players scored points for the Colonials, who shot 61.2 percent from the field for the contest.

"This was our worst defensive effort of the year," Orr said. "We didn't do anything to slow these guys down.

"They got too many open shots. It just came too easy [for them]."

Bowling Green was led by Scott Thomas, who scored all 15 of his points in the first half. Craig Sealey was next for the Falcons in scoring with nine points and also had a team-leading eight rebounds.

The Colonials led for most of the first half, making their first five 3-pointers and connecting on 13-of-23 shots from the floor (56.5 percent) in the period.

The Colonials led by as many as eight points in that period as Jabari Edwards made an old-fashioned three-point play to give them a 33-25 advantage with 4:05 left in the half.

But Bowling Green finished with a rush, using a 9-0 run that included seven points by Thomas. Thomas's 3-pointer with 44 seconds on the clock gave the Falcons a 34-33 lead.

George Washington got a basket by Bryan Bynes with 18 seconds left to give the Colonials a 35-34 halftime lead.

"Even with them shooting 57 percent and us shooting 48 percent, it was close," Orr said. "But then it got worse.

"One of the things we have to get better at is our slow starts to the second half. This time we weren't able to correct it -- we couldn't stop them."

GW burst out of the gates, scoring the first 11 points of the second period thanks to Kromah, who connected on three 3-pointers in the first three minutes.

By the time BG's Cameron Black scored on a put-back basket with 16:36 left, the Falcons still trailed 46-36.

A 3-pointer by Nemanja Mikic and two more baskets helped GW stretch its advantage to 17 points at 58-41 with 12:51 on the clock, and Bowling Green never challenged the rest of the way.

George Washington eventually led by as many as 24 points on three occasions before settling for the eventual 21-point margin of victory.

While the Colonials were shooting a red-hot 62.5 percent in the second half (15-of-24), Bowling Green was struggling from the field. BG connected on just 8-of-26 shots in that half (30.8 percent), including 1-of-6 3-pointers.

GW also outrebounded the Falcons 30-23.

Thomas was the lone Bowling Green player named to the all-tournament team.

George Washington's Tony Taylor was named tournament MVP, while the rest of the team was Ware of GW, Josh Terry of Austin Peay and Evan Bruinsma of Detroit.

BG returns to action Sunday against Temple starting at 2 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

DETROIT 94, AUSTIN PEAY 93

The Titans nearly gave away a 17-point lead before claiming the win in overtime in the first game of the Progressive CBE Classic.

Detroit (3-3) had only eight players available for the contest, and six finished in double figures: Chase Simon had 20, Doug Anderson 18, Evan Bruinsman 15 points and 12 rebounds, Ray McCallum 12 points, Jason Calliste 11 and LaMarcus Lowe 10.

Austin Peay (0-6) had all five starters score in double digits, as TySchwan Edmondson had 22 points, Melvin Baker had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Josh Terry and Will Triggs each scored 14 and Jerome Clyburn 10.

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com or 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.