Box Score (.pdf)

Buies Creek, N.C. – Ramel Thompkins led four Spartans in double-figures on Friday evening as the USC Upstate men's basketball team opened play at the Creek Classic falling 83-74 to the Bowling Green Falcons at Campbell's Gore Arena.

Upstate falls to 2-4 on the season while Bowling Green improves to 4-1 overall.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

• Thompkins finished the game with 18 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting and went 4-for-6 behind the 3-point line.
• Malik Moore added 16 points and seven rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
• Deion Holmes contributed 13 points and Mike Cunningham 12.
• Jure Span dished out a season-high seven assists and contributed seven points.
• For the second straight game Avery Diggs, making his first collegiate start, set new career-highs in both points and rebounds. The freshman finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
• Demajeo Wiggins led five Falcons in double-figures scoring after registering a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds.
• Dylan Frye also had 20 points, while Rodrick Caldwell had 18, and Justin Turner and Daeqwon Plowden added 10 each.
• Caldwell also dished out seven assists for Bowling Green.
• The Spartans finished the game shooting 42.0 percent (29-of-69) from the field and made seven of their eight free throw attempts for an 87.5 percent clip.
• Upstate held a 13-7 advantage in second chance points and tied the Falcons 30-30 in points in the paint and 13-13 in bench points.
• The lead changed hands 13 times throughout the contest while the score was tied five times.

FIRST HALF BREAKDOWN

• Neither team led by more than four points during the game's opening five minutes with the Spartans holding that lead twice.
• Cunningham put Upstate in front 10-6 at the 16:06 mark and Holmes followed the next possession with a jumper to keep its advantage at 12-8.
• The Spartans took their largest lead of the half at 16-11 with 14:10 remaining on a tip-in basket from Diggs.
• Bowling Green connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to go in front 17-16 but Moore answered with a triple to put Upstate back ahead 19-17 at the 11:51 mark.
• The score was tied twice after that before the Falcons took a four-point lead, 25-21, on a layup with 9:21 left.
• Moore came back with four straight points less than three minutes later to put the Spartans back up by one at 28-27.
• Bowling Green would go ahead by double-digits courtesy of an 11-0 run that took up nearly three minutes and led 38-28 with 3:13 to go.
• The Falcons led by as many as 11 points, 44-33, in the first half at the 1:09 mark.
• Turner's last second jumper gave Bowling Green a 46-36 lead at halftime.

SECOND HALF BREAKDOWN

• The Falcons took their largest lead of the game during their first possession of the second half when a layup by Wiggins made the score 48-36.
• Upstate came back with a 14-1 run that lasted 6:13 and took its first lead of the half at 50-49 with 13:20 remaining. The Spartans held Bowling Green scoreless for nearly four minutes during their run.
• After Frye made a 3-pointer on the next possession for the Falcons, Upstate recorded the next six points to take a 59-54 advantage with 8:37 left on a field goal by Cunningham.
• Bowling Green responded to take a 63-61 lead with 6:15 left after Caldwell finished a 3-point play.
• The score would be tied twice over the following 1:32 with the last coming at 66-66 at the 4:46 mark as Moore completed a 3-point play.
• The Falcons used a 12-2 run over the next 4:28 to lead 78-68 with 55 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Frye.
• The Spartans would only get as close as six points twice during the final minute of play. A layup by Holmes with 30 seconds remaining put the score at 80-74.
• Bowling Green finished the game at the free throw line, scoring its final three points for the 83-74 victory.

UP NEXT

• Upstate faces Abilene Christian at 5 p.m. tomorrow evening on day two of the Creek Classic.

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