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Final Scorebook (PDF) 

ATHENS, Ohio - Senior forward Dwight Wilson III (Tallahassee, Fla.) put up 20 points for the Ohio men's basketball team (4-4, 0-2 MAC), but it was not enough to overcome foul trouble and a hot-handed Bowling Green (6-2, 2-0 MAC) team as they fell 83-75, Wednesday, inside the Convocation Center. 

"I think number one, we have to watch the tape," said second-year head coach Jeff Boals. "If you go back to Marshall and Akron, we didn't have near the fight or the intensity or the effort level. That's what I wanted to see today and I saw it. If we play with that intensity and effort level, we're going to win a lot of games. Now it's a matter of when you play really good teams and they're getting to the free throw line every foul, you got to stop when that rebound comes and you got to find a way to come up with that 50-50 ball."

Four Bobcats put up double digits. Redshirt junior forward Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) had a double-double, scoring 13 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and adding five assists.  Sophomore forward Ben Roderick (Powell, Ohio) put up 16 points for the Bobcats, going 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Lunden McDay (Akron, Ohio) scored 11 points, going 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from three. Freshman guard Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) earned his first collegiate start, putting up nine points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out nine assists. 

Ohio finished the game shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from three-point range and were 9-of-12 from the line, while Bowling Green shot 42.6 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from three and were 36-of-38 from the free throw line. BGSU out-rebounded the Bobcats 38-31, while Ohio dished out 20 assists to the Falcons' 12. 

Five Falcons scored in double-digits. Trey Diggs paved the way with 20 points. Justin Turner scored 15 points, going 3-of-10 from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the line. Bowling Green scored 36 of their points from the free throw line.

Bowling Green won the tip, but Ohio opened the scoring, outscoring the Falcons 9-4 in the opening 4:25. Roderick sunk back-to-back threes to give the Bobcats a 19-7 lead with 11:37 remaining in the first half. The Falcons went on an 8-0 run to close the gap to 23-20 Ohio with 7:37 remaining. 

McDay and Vander Plas went back-to-back from beyond the arc to extend the lead to six with 6:48 left with a score of 29-20. Both teams would trade three pointers over the next few minutes. In the last 5:07, the Falcons were limited to only scoring on free throws. The Bobcats took a 42-32 lead into the locker room at the half. 

At the half, the Bobcats shot 47 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range. Bowling Green went 35 percent from the field, 36 percent from three, and were 9-of-10 from the line. Ohio grabbed 20 rebounds to Bowling Green's 15 and dished out 10 assists to Bowling Green's six.  

Bowling Green opened the scoring in the second half with a three. A pair of buckets for each team followed by a three from McDay gave Ohio a 49-39 lead with 17:21 left. Ohio made their first trip to the free throw line at 14:59. The Falcons scored seven straight free throws to cut the lead 58-52 with 13:05 remaining. An 11-2 run from the Falcons would tie the game at 63 with 9:20 to go. Visits to the free throw line would prove critical down the stretch as the game was knotted at 74 with 2:50 left. The Falcons would go on to hit six more free throws down the stretch, sealing the 83-75 victory. 

The Bobcats will kick off 2021 with a trip to Muncie Ind. to face off with Ball State on Jan. 2 at 3:00 pm inside Worthen Arena. 

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