CLEVELAND - Despite 23 points from junior Modibo Niakate (Paris, France/Sacred Heart Griffin), Cleveland State dropped an 80-72 decision to Bowling Green in the first game of the Balance Bar Rock-N-Roll Shootout on Saturday night at Gund Arena.

CSU (5-7) led 31-26 at the half but Bowling Green (5-4) opened the second half with a 9-0 run to turn the deficit into a 35-31 lead. The Falcons took their largest lead at 59-46 with 5:14 to play.

Cleveland State went to a pressure defense in the final five minutes and used an 11-4 spurt to pull within 63-57 on a free throw by Andre' Williams (Clayton, N.J./Bishop Eustace) with 3:23 to play. Williams finished with 13 pints.

With the Vikings fouling in an attempt to get the ball, Bowling Green converted 10 free throws in the final 43 seconds. John Reimold, who scored a game-high 24 points, went 11-for-11 and the Falcons shot 29-for-34 from the line overall.

Jermaine Robinson (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) added 16 points for the Vikings while the Falcons got 20 from Ronald Lewis.

CSU won the battle of the boards 29-28 after holding a commanding lead on the glass at the half, 18-9. Williams and Tahric Gosley (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) shared game honors with BG's Jabari Mattox with seven boards apiece.

For the game, CSU shot 41.2 percent (21-of-51) from the field and 85.2 percent (23-of-27) from the line while BGSU hit 46.9 percent (23-of-49) from the field and 85.3 percent (29-of-34) from the line.

Niakate and Reimold were named the John McLendon Award winners as their respective team's MVP of the game.

The Vikings return to action on Thursday, January 2 when they open Horizon League play with UW-Green Bay at Goodman Arena. Tip-off with the Phoenix will be 7 p.m.