It really is what people don’t see that makes the biggest difference.
Richaun Holmes’ practice habits changed, and in return, the results on the floor have shown.
He’s always had the potential, and in spurts his stats were staggering. But this season it’s about
consistency.
Holmes was impressive again Saturday afternoon. He overmatched his opposition and cemented his name
amongst the Mid-American Conference’s best as Bowling Green’s men’s basketball team ran away in the
second half for a 69-54 win over Ohio in the Stroh Center.
Holmes finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, all in 26 minutes of work for his second
double-double of the season and 10th of his career. His final bucket was a thunderous two-handed slam
that put the Falcons (10-3, 2-0 MAC) up 59-41 with 7:43 to play.
“It’s all about practice. Weeks ago he decided to make a change,” Bowling Green coach Chris Jans said of
Holmes. “He’s always been a really good player, but he changed his practice habits and he’s the
recipient of his production on the floor. … He’s got himself in the best shape of his life and he’s
playing both ends of the floor.”
“Just trying to go as hard as I possibly can,” Holmes added. “Coach Jans constantly is on us about just
playing hard and the results on the floor will follow. I just took that to heart.”
Holmes’ play and ability to spark the Falcons rubbed off on his teammates. Zack Denny added 11 points and
nine rebounds, while Anthony Henderson had 10 points.
Bowling Green was the aggressor in Sunday’s contest – at least according to Ohio coach Saul Phillips.
Jans wasn’t quite as convinced.
After being knocked around by Kent State in the Falcons’ MAC-opening win Wednesday, Jans felt the
aggressiveness and physicality of his team had improved, but had a ways to go. The notion certainly
showed.
Ohio (5-8, 0-2) hung around and trailed just 44-38 with 13:42 left in the second half. But Holmes’ dunk
on a pass from Denny started a 15-3 scoring run that pushed Bowling Green’s lead to 59-41. Spencer
Parker followed the Holmes slam with a steal and a contested layup – a common theme in the second half.

Bowling Green scored 15 points off 10 Ohio turnovers.
“We didn’t just turn them over. We turned them into dunks, 3s, layups,” Jans said. “Those are
backbreakers. We call those atomic bombs around here. We try to avoid them and certainly you want to
create them. … Those plays were the difference makers in the second half.”
Ohio scored just 25 second-half points on 30 percent shooting from the field. Ryan Taylor led the Bobcats
with 16 points.
“It was just a mentality,” Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. “They set their jaw and got – in a very legal
way, I’m not inferring that at all – very aggressive with us, and we didn’t handle it very well.”
Despite the compliment from Phillips, Jans was quick to dismiss the thought saying, “I’d like to someday
be called aggressive and physical. We’re not there. I sure hope someday that I look at them and say
they’re playing the way we want them to play. They’re showing signs of it.”
Defensively the Falcons held strong in the second half. The signs of aggressiveness poured out from Denny
again, a scrappy defender. He held Ohio’s leading scorer Javarez Willis to just five points on 1-of-9
shooting. Willis, who entered averaging 15.7 points per game, was 0-for-6 from 3.
“He was great on both ends,” Phillips said of Denny. “He just made good, sound, smart decisions. When
you’ve got those guys on your team good things happen.”
Bowling Green led by as many as seven points in the first half. After Ohio cut its deficit to 31-29 on a
3-pointer from Treg Setty, Holmes stroked a smooth triple from the top of the key to extend the lead
back to five before halftime.
“We couldn’t get that run. We couldn’t shake them,” Jans said. “They kept hanging around and they weren’t
going to go anywhere that first half.
“We had some silly plays,” he added. “… It easily could have been double digits, but it wasn’t. We missed
some golden opportunities.”
But it quickly became evident in the second half that Jans’ emphasis on toughness after the Kent State
win set into the minds of the Falcons.
“We know this league is very physical,” Holmes said. “In Kent they kind of beat up on us a little bit,
especially on the offensive glass. Tonight we just wanted to be like the hit-first guy – upping our
physicality and stepping up to the challenge.”
NOTES: Guard Jehvon Clarke did not play with a sprained right ankle. There
is no timetable set for his return … Bowling Green improved to 6-1 at home this season … Jovan Austin
finished with six assists. He has 19 in his last three games … Freshman Matt Fox scored six points.
Those were his first career points … The Falcons travel to Akron (10-5, 1-1 MAC) Wednesday at 7 p.m.