Men’s Basketball’s Second-Half Push Falls Short against Bowling Green at Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Freshman Amon Dörries scored 17 of his career-high 22 points during Bucknell's second-half charge, but Bowling Green rode an early 3-point barrage to a 71-66 win on Monday afternoon in the opening game of the Skechers Fort Myers Challenge at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.

Dörries finished 7-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from the 3-point arc, and 6-for-8 from the foul line, and he also had two big blocked shots in the second half that led to buckets. Achile Spadone (16), Pat Curtin (11), and Brandon McCreesh (10) also scored in double figures for the Bison, who are now 2-5 on the season after a 2-0 start.

Javon Ruffin scored 15 points – all on 3-pointers – and Sam Towns (15) and Javontae Campbell (14) scored in double figures for Bowling Green, which snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 4-2 on the campaign.

Bowling Green used a 19-1 run to take a 16-point lead late in the first half, but the Bison trimmed the margin to 11 by halftime and got as close as three late in the contest.

Down by eight after a Campbell 3-pointer with 5:20 left, Dörries took over for the Bison. He scored on back-to-back layups, the second one coming after he rejected Justin Thomas's layup attempt, and then split a pair at the line to make it a 56-53 game with 3:05 to go.

Towns answered with a pair of free throws, and then Spadone was stripped going up for a shot in the lane. Ruffin followed with his fifth 3-pointer of the day, a dagger from the right corner to make it 61-53 with 1:59 to go.

The Bison still had life after Spadone finished a 3-point play and another layup after Thomas managed only 1-for-2 at the line. That made it a 3-point game, but Towns capped off his 8-for-8 day at the foul line with two more to ice it with 11.5 seconds remaining.

Bucknell shot 54.2 percent in the second half and 46.7 percent overall. The Bison were 9-for-20 from the arc and 15-for-20 from the foul line, but they were held back by 18 turnovers.

Bucknell finished with a 31-27 rebounding advantage and forced 15 Bowling Green miscues, but the Falcons went 11-for-23 from downtown, with nine of those makes coming in the first half. Bowling Green shot 44.7 percent overall and went 18-for-26 from the foul line.

Bowling Green was red-hot from downtown in the first half, hitting four of its first five to grab an early 12-4 lead. Curtin provided the Bison a lift of the bench with two straight threes of his own, and two more treys from Spadone and Aleksander Pachucki gave Bucknell a couple of small leads midway through the half.

The Bison went ice cold after that, however, while the threes continued to fall for the Falcons. Thomas hit from downtown, and then Ruffin connected on three in a row to give Bowling Green a 26-16 lead. Campbell's triple capped the 19-1 run and made it 33-17 with 1:56 left in the half.

Grgur Brcic, who made his first Bucknell start in place of the injured Ruot Bijiek, ended a nearly 10-minute field goal drought, and then Dörries hit two free throws and a corner 3-pointer in the late stages of the half to bring the Bison within 11 at the break.

Bucknell's second game at the Skechers Fort Myers Classic will be on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. against Buffalo.

Men’s Basketball’s Second-Half Push Falls Short against Bowling Green at Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off

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Team Stats

Amon Dörries

Achile Spadone

Pat Curtin

Brandon McCreesh

Players Mentioned

Ruot Bijiek

Grgur Brcic

Pat Curtin

Brandon McCreesh

Aleksander Pachucki

Achile Spadone