BGSU men claim win at Norfolk State

NORFOLK, Va. – The Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team used a hot shooting night to claim a 90-77 victory over Norfolk State Saturday.

The Falcons made 50.8 percent of their shots from the floor (30-of-59), including 14-of-25 3-pointer (56.0 percent), while connecting on 18-of-21 free throws (85.7 percent) to improve to 7-2 on the season.

Bowling Green's Dylan Frye, shown earlier this season against Lake Erie, scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Falcons to a win at Norfolk State Saturday.

BG’s Dylan Frye scored a career-high 28 points by making 9-of-13 field goals and 5-of-7 3’s. Anthony Wayne product Matt Fox tied his career high with 18 points, thanks to 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc, while Springfield High School graduate Demajeo Wiggins also had 18 and Justin Turner added 16.

Alex Long scored 22 points to lead Norfolk State (0-8). Preston Bungei scored 18, while Steven Whitley had 13 and Kyle Williams 11 for the Spartans.

The Falcons roared out of the box, scoring the game’s first five points before countering a 3-pointer by Norfolk State with 18 more points to lead 23-3 with 14:30 to play in the first half.

Frye had 12 of those points thanks in part to three 3-pointers as BG made eight of its first nine shots while the Spartans were 1-for-7 from the field with four turnovers.

The rest of the first half was defined by runs: Norfolk State had an 8-2 spurt before Bowling Green followed with seven straight points, and that trend continued through the half. The Falcons biggest first-half lead was 23 points when they led 43-20 with 3:21 to go; the Spartans used an 11-3 finish to the half to cut the margin to 46-31 at the break.

Then Norfolk State started the second half on a shooting roll, making eight of its first 10 shots to outscore the Falcons 20-5 and tie the score at 51-51 with 14:29 to play in the second half.

Bowling Green used the one-two punch of Turner and Fox to reestablish a seven-point lead as Turner jump-started an 11-4 run with a 3-pointer, and Fox connected on back-to-back 3’s to give the Falcons a 62-55 advantage with 12:34 on the clock.

The Spartans were able to cut BG’s lead to 68-63 with 8:43 to go, but Frye scored the next six points to kick-start an 8-0 push, and Norfolk State came no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

The Falcons host Evansville at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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