Gophers Meet Bowling Green Saturday

The Minnesota Gophers, who open their regular-season opener with a 76-51 win over Division II Concordia St. Paul Friday night, will face Bowling Green Saturday. The Falcons edged Georgia State 77-76 in overtime in the opening game of the NABC Classic.

The Falcons finished 13-17 last year and 7-9 in Mid American Conference play. Bowling Green was without starters Nate Miller and Chris Knight and reserve forward Cameron Madlock, who did not travel with the team to Minneapolis after being suspended by Falcons head coach Louis Orr for violating a team rule at some point during the off-season.

Darryl Clements and Erik Marschall replaced Miller and Knight in the starting lineup for the opener and both players played well against Georgia State. Clements had seven points and seven assists and Marschall, a 6-foot-7 junior who redshirted last year due to injury, had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Joe Jakubowski, who was named to the MAC All-Freshman team last year, made six three-pointers, including the game-winner as he finished with a game-high 24 points. Jakubowski led all MAC freshmen in assists and assists/turnover ratio.

Brian Moten, who was the MAC Sixth Man of the Year, had 19 points as he made three three-pointers.

Otis Polk, a 6-foot-9, 285-pound widebody, added three points.

Bowling Green played just eight players in the season opener, due to missing the three suspended players. Marc Larson played 34 minutes off the bench, finishing with one point and four rebounds. Freshman forward Scott Thomas was held scoreless in just three minutes of playing time and frosh guard Darnell Brown added six points off the bench.

The Falcons will miss the three suspended players this weekend. Miller, a senior preseason All-Mid-American Conference selection, averaged 13.2 points and 6.5 rebounds last year, and Knight, a sophomore, led the team with 7.3 rebounds while adding 10.7 points. Sophomore Madlock played in 16 games, averaging five minutes per contest. Bowling Green made 11 three-pointers in their season opener and will likely rely on their perimeter with the loss of two frontcourt players this weekend.