Falcons’ rally falls short in OT loss to Musketeers

12/8/2013

CINCINNATI — The Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team took Xavier to overtime before the Musketeers won 85-73 at home on Saturday.

Richaun Holmes scored a career-high 26 points for the Falcons (3-5) while adding nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Anthony Henderson and Jehvon Clarke each scored 13 points for BG, with Clarke adding five assists and four steals.

Semaj Christon had 22 points to lead the Musketeers (6-3), while Isaiah Philmore and James Farr scored 15 and Myles Davis added 14.

The game saw five ties and seven lead changes in the first 16 minutes before Bowling Green finished with a rush to take a lead at halftime.

The Falcons wiped out a 29-21 deficit with 4 minutes, 45 seconds to play as Henderson and Holmes each scored four points to tie the score with 1:56 left in the first half. Craig Sealey hit two free throws to give BG the lead, and a layup by Clarke after a steal by Sealey made it 33-29 Falcons at halftime.

In the second half Xavier’s 10-2 run midway through the period gave the Musketeers a 54-46 lead with 9:11 to play in regulation. Bowling Green responded with a five-point run, only to see Xavier score the next eight for a 62-51 advantage with 5:48 left in regulation.

A 13-2 run by the Falcons tied the game at 64-64 with 3:16 left in regulation. Xavier had two chances at the free throw line but made just 2 of 4 attempts to lead 66-64 with 2:19 on the clock, and a free throw by Holmes followed by his alley-oop basket off a feed from Clarke gave BG a 67-66 lead.

The Falcons got a stop, and Henderson made 1 of 2 free throws with 14.8 seconds to play to give Bowling Green a two-point advantage, but Christon was fouled and made both free throws with 5.5 seconds left to force overtime.

While BG got the first point of overtime, Xavier scored the next eight points.

Bowling Green returns home Wednesday to face North Dakota at the Stroh Center, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.