Phillips Motivates BG, but Rally Fizzles

By Maureen Fulton, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Jan. 25–BOWLING GREEN – The Patrick Phillips motivational playing tour fell three points short. Even with a second-half comeback sparked by Phillips, a former walk-on, Bowling Green State University couldn’t pull it out, losing 76-73 to Buffalo at Anderson Arena last night. After the Falcons made two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds, Martin Samarco’s attempt to tie the game at the buzzer was long. “I told the kids at halftime, I’m not going down without a fight,” BGSU coach Dan Dakich said. BGSU fell to 7-10, 3-4 in the Mid-American Conference. The first half was a yawner, with the teams combining for 28 turnovers. The Falcons repeatedly left open the Bulls’ top scorer, Calvin Cage. But at the start of the second half coach Dakich put in Phillips, a guard who averages six minutes a game. “I got tired of watching all the other guys come in there and look scared,” Dakich said. On offense Phillips was aggressive going into the lane and it quickly paid off with two baskets. He was assigned to guard Cage and frustrated him. The Falcons went on a 16-2 run in a span of less than three minutes, with Samarco and John Floyd scoring six points each. When Phillips exited eight minutes into the second half, he was given a standing ovation by the crowd of 1,614. “He came in and was fantastic,” Dakich said. The Falcons fell behind 10 with 10 minutes to play but then the scoring lane opened up for Samarco and Mawel Soler as well. Samarco was the game’s high scorer with 30 points and Soler had a career-high 19. Combined with a few defensive stops, their scoring kept the game close. Down seven with a minute and a half to play, the Falcons took advantage of a Buffalo mistake. Senior Mario Jordan was called for an intentional foul on Soler and was whistled for a technical as well. Soler and Samarco made all four free throws. After Soler made a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, Dakich was hit with a technical foul for standing on the court. The Bulls got just one point out of the possession and Samarco ran down and made a 3 with :10 left. The Bulls (14-4, 4-3) were 6 of 8 on free throws in the final minute for the difference. Cage led four Buffalo players in double figures with 24 for the Bulls’ first win at Anderson Arena. “We’ve been working on it as a team all season and we have been able to make free throws,” Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon said. Dakich pointed to a typical shortcoming for the Falcons, rebounding, as a factor in the loss. The Bulls outrebounded BGSU 35-20 and had 12 offensive rebounds. The Falcons have pulled down more rebounds than their opponents just four times this season. “We were getting stops, but we didn’t finish them off,” Floyd said. “We have to come up with those rebounds in close games.” The Falcons play tomorrow at Kent State at 7 p.m. Contact Maureen Fulton at: mfulton@theblade.com or 419-724-6160.

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