MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Bowling Green lost ground in the Mid-American Conference East race by dropping a
69-64 decision to Central Michigan Saturday.
The Falcons drop to 12-13 overall and are tied for third place in the MAC East at 7-4 with Buffalo.
The Falcons shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half to gain a 37-31 lead. However, BG had
eight turnovers in the opening half, which helped Central stay close.
“We shot the ball 67 percent from the field in the first half and you really can’t shoot the ball much
better than that. But we only had a six-point lead at the half. Considering how well we shot it, a
six-point lead wasn’t what we needed it to be,” BG head coach Louis Orr said.
Bowling Green’s shooting fell off in the second half to 32.1 percent and the Falcons had eight more
turnovers.
“In the second half, we had too many empty possessions where we didn’t score and we didn’t guard them,”
Orr said. “We didn’t take advantage of getting to the offensive boards. We needed to step it up on the
defensive end while we weren’t scoring.”
Derek Jackson was the difference-maker in the second half for the Chippewas, scoring 15 points. He was
4-of-5 from the field, including 3-of-3 on 3-pointers, and 4-of-5 from the line. Jackson came into the
game shooting 35.9 percent from the field, 24.1 percent on 3-pointers, and 47.1 percent from the
free-throw line.
“He’s been putting in extra work. Derek, like other guys on our team, have gone through some struggles.
He’s a big-time player and we know he’s a big-time player,” said EMU head coach Ernie Zeigler. “He
played with confidence and that’s what big-time players do — they come and make plays. He had a great
overall game.”
Dee Brown, who finished with a game-high 20 points for the Falcons, hit a 3-pointer with 11:07 left in
the game to put BG up 48-44.
The Chippewas made a 8-3 run with Jalin Thomas’ 3-pointer with 7:34 remaining putting CMU ahead to stay.

Bowling Green was within one point four different times in the final 6:24 of the game, but could never
regain the lead.
A pair of free throws from Brown with 22 seconds left cut CMU’s lead to 65-64. Jalin Thomas and Jackson
then closed things out, each making two free throws, as BG missed a 3-pointer and had a turnover.
In addition to scoring 20 points, Brown also had five assists, two steals and two rebounds with no
turnovers. A’uston Calhoun scored 15 points for BG and Joe Jakubowski had 12 points and three assists.

“Road games are tough. You’ve got to defend and rebound. You’ve got to play with a certain level of
toughness even if you struggle from the offensive end like we did in the second half,” Orr said.
NOTES: CMU is now 7-17, 4-7 in the MAC … BG finished 4-2 against the MAC West and returns to MAC East
play hosting Akron Tuesday with tipoff at 7 p.m.