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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio –  The Ohio men's basketball team (23-7, 14-5)) returned to action on Tuesday night, falling to Bowling Green (13-17, 6-13 MAC), 80-77, inside the Stroh Center. 
 
Overall, Ohio shot 34.7 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from three and 80 percent from the line, while BGSU shot 50 percent from the field 34.8 percent from three and 75.9 percent from the line. Ohio outrebounded the Falcons 41-37, while the Bobcats dished out 17 assists to the Falcons' 12. 
 
Individually redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) led Ohio with 25 points, going 5-of-11 from three and grabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) added 22 points, going 10-of-10 from the line, while grabbing 13 boards. Junior forward Ben Roderick (Powell, Ohio) added 14 points and went 4-of-8 from three. Redshirt fifth year forward Jason Carter (Johnstown, Ohio) added seven rebounds. 
 
"The first 2-3-4 minutes of the first half and the first five minutes the second half, that was the ballgame," head coach Jeff Boals said. "You know, if we would have won, probably wouldn't have deserved to win the game. We've got off to slow starts in all three losses. And you know, collectively, we got to figure that out. But our guys battled back, but the game like this, you can't give confidence early."
 
Bowling Green won the tip and got the first bucket of the game, before Vander Plas drained a three to put Ohio up, 3-2. BGSU then took a 13-3 lead before a Vander Plas Layup and three cut the Falcons lead to 13-8 going into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, another Vander Plas three and two free throws from Sears tied the game at 13-13. After Bowling Green when up 19-13, a three from Sears cut the Falcons' lead to 19-16 with 11:55 left in the half. 
 
Out of the timeout, two free throws from Sears cut the Ohio deficit to one. After BGSU took a 21-18 lead, a layup from Roderick and a free throw from Vander Plas tied the game at 21-21. After Bowling Green hit a jumper, a three from Roderick out Ohio up 24-23 with 7:15 to go in the half. Another Vander Plas three out of the timeout helped put the Bobcats up 29-27 going into the final media timeout of the half. 
 
Out of the timeout, four free throws from Sears and a layup from Vander Plas put Ohio up 35-29, before Bowling Green hit a jumper, sending the game to the half with Ohio leading 35-31. 
 
At the half, Ohio shot 33.3 percent from the field. 33.3 percent from three and were 9-of-10 from the line, while BGSU shot 46.4 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from three and were 1-of-3 from the line. Ohio outrebounded BGSU, 18-17 and dished out eight assists to Bowling Green's five. 
 
Individually, Vander Plas scored 17 points and hit four threes in the first half, while Sears added 11 points and six rebounds. 
 
Vander Plas opened the second half with a three, however, Bowling Green then went on a 9-0 run to take a 40-38 lead going into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, a layup from Sears stopped the BGSU run, but the Falcons were able to take a nine-point lead before a layup from Vander Plas cut the Ohio deficit to 49-42. However, another layup from BGSU increased the lead back to nine with 11:14 left in the game. 
 
Both teams traded free throws before layup from Vander Plas and freshman IJ Ezuma (Raleigh, N.C.) cut the BGSU lead to 52-47, forcing Bowling Green to call a timeout with 9:31 left in the game. Out of the timeout, Bowing Green went up 10 before a three from senior guard Tommy Schmock (Cleveland, Ohio) cut the lead to seven. However, Bowling Green went on a 5-0 run to take a 62-50 lead with 6:50 left in the game. 
 
Out of the timeout, BGSU went up 63-50, however, back-to-back layups from Carter and Sears and a deep three from Roderick sparked a 7-0 Ohio run to cut the lead to 63-57 with 5:29 left in the game. After BGSU called a timeout, Ohio continued the run with another Roderick three and a jumper from Carter, cutting the deficit to one-point with 3:56 remaining in the game. 
 
After Bowling Green went up three, Carter was assessed two technical and ejected, allowing the Falcons to hit three free throws and another layup to take a 70-64 lead. After a Sears layup, Roderick drained another three to cut the deficit to three points with 1:50 left in the game. 
 
After Bowling Green went up 77-75, threes from Sears and junior Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) helped cut the Ohio deficit to three points with 14.6 seconds remaining in the game. However, the Bobcats were unable to cut the lead any closer, ultimately falling, 80-77. 
 
Up next, the Bobcats wrap up the regular season on Friday, March 4 when they head to DeKlab, Ill. to take on DeKalb, Ill. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET. 
 
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