Ohio against Eastern Michigan on Saturday in The Convo was chaotic, and at times, unexpected.
A late-game, three-play sequence began the chaos.
It started with Jaaron Simmons receiving a flagrant one, attempting to halt an open drive to the basket. It was followed by a Jason Carter and-one. It ended with Gavin Block screaming toward the stands after a rebounding scuffle — ball cradled in one hand, neck veins pumping.
The result from the high-paced transactions had a reversal effect for Ohio, though: a 53-49 win for Eastern Michigan, which outscored Ohio 34-23 in the second half and held the Bobcats without a basket in the final 4:06.
Ohio had the chance to take the lead with 37 seconds remaining, but a Jordan Dartis 3-pointer rattled in-and-out of the rim.
“We didn’t get a lot of movement in our offense and we got a little stagnant and some turnovers killed us,” Block said. “They didn’t let (the scuffle) affect them by any means and kudos to them.”
Ohio’s offense couldn’t garner much against Eastern Michigan Saturday. Why? The Bobcats’ anchor Antonio Campbell only played the first three minutes.
Campbell watched in crutches from a back hall of The Convo as Ohio lost at home for the first time since March 23, 2016.
The former Mid-American Conference Most Valuable Player sitting was probably the difference maker.
“Listen, we put five guys out on the floor, they all get the same scholarship, they all get the same stipend, and whoever is out there has a job to do,” coach Saul Phillips said. “And as a group, collectively, we didn’t get it done.”
With Campbell out, the Bobcats struggled to string together enough offense.
Ohio shot 30 percent from the court, its performance worst this season. Its 16-of-29 free throw shooting didn’t help, either, as Simmons practiced his free throw mechanics an hour after the final buzzer. He shot 1-for-7 from the field and missed two late free throws.
“Yeah, (Simmons) was having a hard time finding gaps,” Phillips said of Simmons’ two-point, four assist performance. “Yeah, he needs to be playing more downhill that’s the bottom line,” Phillips added.
Despite Ohio’s offense struggling, Jason Carter finished with his first double-double (14 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of work). Doug Taylor received extra playing time, too, grabbing seven rebounds and guarding Eastern Michigan’s James Thompson.
“It doesn’t feel great because we lost” Carter said bluntly of his double-double performance.
A sluggish first half paced the entire game and foreshadowed Ohio’s offensive woes.
Ohio shot 9-26 from the field in the first half. Part of it came from shots taken off the high post because Eastern Michigan’s 2-3 zone defense. Another factor: Campbell’s absence.
Phillips said he has no timetable for Campbell, and hinted at Campbell sitting out Tuesday at Akron.
Without Campbell, Ohio only had 12 points from 2-pointers in the first half.
“For all those that got all geeked about our three wins, don’t freak out over one loss,” Phillips said. “It’ll be OK We still got a good, resilient group in there.”
Eastern Michigan didn’t fair well, either.
The Eagles’ averaged 83 points per game entering Saturday. Part of the inflated stats came from beating up on non-D1 opponents in their non-conference schedule. It’s 19 first-half points were it’s lowest total this season.
In the end, though, Ohio lost thanks to a lack of offense — a contradictory of early season predictions — and no Campbell.
“We played defense pretty well, we just didn’t do the other things very well tonight,” Block said.
