KENT - Despite outshooting and outrebounding the Mid-American Conference East Division leader, the Ohio men's basketball team fell to Kent State, 80-71, Saturday night.
The Bobcats (3-10 overall, 0-3 MAC) held the Golden Flashes (10-2, 4-0 MAC) to 25.8 percent shooting in the second half and 39.1 percent for the game but could not push past the Kent State defense, which forced 19 turnovers. The Golden Flashes' powerful 7-foot center, John Edwards, added five blocked shots.
We do compete with people
and that's part of the frustrating thing Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said. Other than the Wisconsin game where I thought we were really overmatched most of our games have followed the same script where we have been right there
but we haven't been making the plays down the stretch that we need to to pull out a win.
Trailing the entire second half, Ohio was down 70-59 with less than seven minutes to go before rallying to cut the lead to 73-68 with 2:24 remaining. A minute later, Ohio guard Jaivon Harris blocked an inbound pass at midcourt and drove to the basket but was called for a charge. A call the other way and an added free throw would have brought the Bobcats to within three. Instead, Kent State regained a more comfortable lead and took advantage of three Bobcat turnovers in the final minutes.
Deep down the stretch we had a lot of silly turnovers and really weren't guarding the ball
Ohio forward Terren Harbut said. It kind of took us out on a couple calls
kind of put our mind out by the refs
but it's over. That's history. We just have to play harder next time out - just keep going and never quit.
Four Bobcats reached double digits, led by Harbut with a season-high 17 points, but Kent State's 13 3-pointers gave the Ohio defense too much to handle. Kent State guard Eric Haut paved the way for the Golden Flashes with 24 points, including six 3-pointers.
He's put a lot of daggers in teams with big shots
O'Shea said.
Kent State opened the first half - in what looked to be another Duquesne game for the Bobcats -with some especially hot shooting, hitting 10-of-15 field goals and nailing 5-of-6 from behind the arc in the first eight minutes. Against Duquesne, Ohio hit 20 3-pointers but gave up 96 points.
They got a lot of open looks
and we were in zone and playing a little softer than we should have been
Harris said. We should have been closing out. We just want to be contesting shooters a little more...We got caught up inside when (Edwards) did get the ball and when he came out we were a little too far inside helping on Edwards to contest jumpers.
Ohio, burying some threes of its own, came back from as much as a 12-point deficit to take a lead with 2:18 left in the first half. The Bobcats trailed 47-44 at halftime, Ohio's highest scoring first half of the season.
The Bobcats meet Buffalo for their first home game of the New Year Wednesday at 7 p.m. in The Convo.
