BOWLING GREEN, Ohio ? A buzzer-beater by Bowling Green’s Ryne Hamblet lifted the Falcons a 65-64 victory over South Alabama on Saturday afternoon. Hamblet’s fade-away jumper was just his second field goal of the game. USA falls to 4-2, while Bowling Green improves to 2-2. Junior Demetric Bennett led the Jaguars with 19 points.
"They made the last play," Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said. "So many things led up to where we were in that situation. I thought our kids fought hard, competed and made some plays. We just came up a little short. The ball could have easily rolled off but it did not. It was a tough road loss. Bowling Green had made some improvement since we saw them on film. They were a completely different basketball team tonight. We have a lot to work on and we did. It was still a tough loss."
A pair of Bennett free throws gave the Jaguars a one point advantage with just under three minutes left in the game at 58-57. Martin Samarco followed with two free throws of his game-high 23 points to put BGSU back in front, 59-58. Bennett went 1-of-2 at the line with 1:28 to cut a 3-point BGSU advantage to two. A jumper by Matt Lefeld pushed the Falcon lead to four with just under a minute to go.
On the ensuing possession, Bennett hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 48 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 63-62. Sophomore Brandon Davis, who had a career-high 14 points and a team-leading seven rebounds made two free throws with nine seconds left, putting the Jaguars up 64-63.
Bowling Green drove the length of the court and Hamblet put up an off-balance prayer from about six feet out. The ball hung on the rim for a split second before dropping in.
The Jaguars return home to face Samford on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7:05 p.m. in the Mitchell Center.
The Jaguars made a valiant comeback as they were down 10 points in the first half and battled back, going on a 22-13 run over the final 10 minutes of the half to cut the deficit to 30-29 at halftime.
"It was a game of runs, basketball is a lot like that," Pelphrey said. "The first half we struggled scoring the ball and gave up 30 points. We have to improve and we have to get better. It's a tough pill to swallow right now."
The Jaguars were 10-of-23 from the floor in the opening half and were 5-of-14 from beyond the arc. USA was 4-of-6 from the charity stripe and Bennett led the team with eight points in the half.
BGSU was led by Samarco with 14 points, including 6-of-7 from the line in the half. The Falcons were 10-of-21 from the floor, 3-of-8 from beyond the arc and 7-of-9 from the line.
The second half opened BGSU jumping out to the early advantage as it built the lead back to eight points on a 3-pointer by Samarco with just over 12 minutes left. A 9-0 run by the Jaguars gave USA its first lead since the 18:27 mark in the first half at 48-47 on a jumper by senior Stephen Cowherd.
USA built a four-point lead on a layup by junior Kenny Hooks with just over four minutes to play.
