BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Illinois State's 16-point lead was gone much too quickly Sunday. Levi Dyer had seen this many times in the past four seasons and admitted thinking the worst.

"Not another one on the road," Dyer told himself.

Not this time.

Dyer and junior college transfers Brandon Sampay and Emmanuel Holloway came off the bench to give the Redbirds a much-needed dose of confidence after Bowling Green tied things up. ISU pulled away in the final five minutes to beat the Falcons 69-58 in a nonconference game.

While a sparse crowd of about 300 ventured to Anderson Arena as snowy conditions blanketed northwest Ohio, the Redbirds could have cared less how many watched while they improved to 7-3.

A road win is a road win is a road win. ISU was 0-3 away from Redbird Arena this season and had dropped 32 of their last 36 away from home dating back to the end of the 2004-05 season.

First-year ISU coach Tim Jankovich was relieved his players got their first road victory ahead of Saturday's trip to Ball State and the start of Missouri Valley Conference action at Creighton (Dec. 29) and Wichita State (Jan. 1).

"If you look at these guys and their history, it's hard to believe it wasn't in the back of their minds," he said. "We certainly did not want that to linger, so collectively we all felt like we needed something positive to happen on the road. From the staff's standpoint, it was pretty big."

Dom Johnson paced ISU with 16 points. Osiris Eldridge produced his second career double-double in the last three games with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Dyer scored all 11 of his points in the second half, while Sampay added a season-high 10 points in only 11 minutes.

ISU seemed en route to an easy victory over the Falcons (4-5) late in the first half. The Redbirds attacked Bowling Green's 2-3 zone with precision and went ahead 32-16 on Sampay's layup with 2:16 left.

But ISU didn't score in its last three possessions before intermission. In a sign of things to come, Bowling Green's Darryl Clements sank a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 32-19 at the break.

"When you're on the road, you always feel the other team is going to make a run. Sure enough, they absolutely would not go away," said Jankovich. "They started the half with better energy than we had. Then when they got their head up and got their confidence, they started hitting some 3s and we were reeling a little bit."

Bowling Green came in shooting 31.4 percent from outside the arc and missed their first eight in the first half. The Falcons caught fire in the second half, going 7 of 10. Reserve Brian Moten's only basket of the game, a 3-pointer, capped an 11-0 Bowling Green run that tied the game at 39-all with 12:15 left.

"We just tried to keep talking about the defensive end. The offense will take care of itself," said Jankovich. "We knew we had lost the defensive edge we had in the first half. We tried to keep making adjustments. We made about four along the way.

"Three of them did not seem to work very well. Finally, the fourth one seemed to work better. Our guys did a great job of staying calm and not panicking and understanding it's a long game and people are going to make runs."

ISU found Sampay inside on its next two trips. The 6-foot-8 junior was fouled the first time and sank both free throws before making a 5-foot turnaround jumper as the Redbirds took a 43-39 lead.

Clements, who scored a game-high 18 points, drained another 3-pointer as the Falcons got within 52-50 with six minutes left. Then it was time for the Redbirds' other JC transfer to step up.

Holloway made a 3-pointer from the corner and Dyer followed with another trey on the next possession to give ISU breathing room.

"I knew my man was holding out in the post because we were doing such a good job in the post and had a size advantage," said Holloway, who contributed seven points and four assists. "I knew as soon as I got the opportunity to take advantage of it."

The Redbirds' defense took care of the rest, holding Bowling Green to 3 of 9 shooting the rest of the way to gain their first road win since last February at Indiana State.

Sampay has been troubled with a left foot and ankle injuries and the death of his great-grandmother in California this fall. Jankovich told Sampay earlier this week to think about the end of first semester being the start of a new season for him.

"It's been very frustrating. I know, at least, I could have been helping in some way," said Sampay, who went 6 of 6 at the line. "Not being able to (help) was a very hard thing to cope with. Luckily, I've got friends on this team who keep my head straight and I do what I have to do."

Bowling Green played without its third-leading scorer. Ryne Hamblet, a 6-5 guard from Chicago, was suspended indefinitely by Coach Louis Orr for violation of team rules before the game.

Orr knew if the Falcons could have gotten the lead, the ending might have been different.

"At the end of the day, you have to keep getting stops and converting at the other end. They're a good, solid basketball team," said Orr. "The guys made shots in the second half to stretch it out when they needed it."