Bowling Green leads MAC - for now - with 31-13 win over Western Michigan

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) — Quarterback Connor Bazelak accounted for three touchdowns and Terrion Stewart ran for 150 yards and Bowling Green beat Western Michigan 31-13 to move into a half-game lead atop the Mid-American Conference on Tuesday night.

Bazelak threw a 25-yard touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr. with 5:12 left before intermission to give the Falcons a 10-7 lead and they never trailed again.

Jacorey Benjamin intercepted Hayden Wolff on the first play of the Broncos ensuing drive, and three plays later, Bazelak ran it in following a 23-yard run by Stewart to the 1.

On the opening drive after halftime, the Falcons drove 65 yards on seven plays with Stewart running it in from 17 yards for a 24-7 lead. Bowling Green closed its scoring with Bazelak throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Fannin.

Stewart reached his rushing total in 15 carries with a touchdown and Fannin had 137 receiving yards on 10 receptions with two touchdowns.

The Broncos posted their only lead when Jalen Buckley ran it in from the 6 for a 7-3 lead with 10:36 before halftime.

Buckley ran for 73 yards on 17 yards and scored twice.

Bowling Green (6-4, 5-1) and Western Michigan (5-5, 4-2) entered Tuesday night’s game in a four-way tie for first place in the MAC. Miami (Ohio) (5-4, 4-1) and Ohio (6-3, 4-1) play their games tomorrow. Miami (Ohio) hosts Kent State and Ohio hosts Eastern Michigan.

Bowling Green entered having lost six of its last nine games to WMU, dating back to 2005.

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This story has been updated to correct the dateline to Ohio.