A night of season highs and school records for the Ohio men's basketball team was made irrelevant thanks to a hot-shooting Duquense Dukes squad as the Bobcats fell 96-91.
Ohio (3-9) trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half but made a furious rally against the Dukes (5-7) on the strength of a Mid-American Conference record 20 made three-point shots.
It was truly bizarre because one of our inabilities was to make shots
then finally you make shots - we set a MAC conference record for made threes - and lose Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said. We really felt we had to score more points. We had done a decent job defensively.
The Bobcats faced such a tall order in their comeback thanks to a first half with poor shooting and turnovers as well as an early 16-2 run for Duquesne.
It really had a lot to do with us missing three-pointers sometimes Stephens said. Them getting long rebounds automatically created fast break opportunities.
The final tally was a bit deceiving considering the large double digit deficits Ohio faced throughout the majority of the contest, but there was little the Bobcats could do as Duquesne shot 34-of-51 from the field.
Stephens led Ohio in scoring for the third straight contest with a career high 28 points while backcourt mate Jaivon Harris added 22 points, one from his own career high. Duquesne forward Jon Pawlak led the Dukes with 15 points.
I couldn't hit the shots... I was just frustrated with myself as far as shooting in the first half
Stephens said. I had to sit down and pray about the second half because games are a tale of two halves.
