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GAME NOTES: With the regular season winding down, the Bowling Green Falcons play host to the Valparaiso Crusaders this afternoon in a BracketBusters matchup at Anderson Arena.

Following today's tilt, Valpo will wrap up its schedule on Friday against Butler. The Crusaders notched an 84-73 win over Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday night to lock up a first-round home game in the upcoming Horizon League Tournament. The Crusaders have won two straight and four of their last five to improve to 15-14 overall and 10-7 in conference.

Bowling Green stands at 13-12 and 6-7 in the Mid-American Conference with three regular-season games remaining after today. The Falcons had a modest two-game win streak snapped in Wednesday's 64-51 loss at Buffalo. Today's contest opens a three-game homestand before the Falcons wrap up their schedule at Ohio University on March 4th.

Bowling Green has won all seven prior meetings with Valpo, although this marks the first meeting between the two since 1979.

Valpo freshman guard Matt Kenney poured in a career-high 27 points off the bench in Wednesday's win over Loyola. The Crusaders shot 50 percent from the floor in both halves and received 52 points from their bench, as Howard Little and Ryan Broekhoff contributed 15 and 10 points, respectively. In contrast, Loyola's bench accounted for just 15 points, and Valpo led by as many as 20 points with 12 minutes to play. On the season, Brandon Wood leads the team with 18.2 ppg. Cory Johnson is shooting 56.6 percent from the floor and is averaging 15.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest, while Brandon McPherson is netting 11.5 ppg. Wood and McPherson have combined for 105 three-pointers on the year, and both are shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.

The Falcons have marched out the same starting five since they opened their MAC schedule. They've gotten decent production from that group, but the bench has been an afterthought, and that has often plagued the team late in games. Scott Thomas is averaging a club-best 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in league play, while Dee Brown turns in 10.8 ppg and is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc. However, Brown is really the only three-point threat, as the rest of the team is shooting a combined 24 percent from the perimeter against MAC foes. The Falcons made only 1-of-9 threes in Wednesday's 13-point loss to Buffalo. They fell behind by 15 at the half and were never able to recover. Thomas led the way with 21 points and four steals in a losing effort, while Otis Polk tallied 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

The Crusaders got an outstanding performance from their bench the last time out. While such an effort will be hard to duplicate on the road, expect Valpo's starters to get back on track in this one.