Ohio ousted Kent State by a score of 78-75 in overtime Saturday at The Convo. Follow our chronological coverage below.
Pregame
Ohio coach Jim Christian said that while he was watching last Saturday's Mid-American Conference game between Ball State and Western Michigan he barely recognized either team, though the Bobcats had faced both over the previous month.
That attitude is carrying over to Ohio's Saturday matchup against Kent State — its second go-around with the Golden Flashes. The Bobcats are seeking their first regular season sweep of Kent State since the 2000-01 season.
"It’s not the same team we played a month ago," Christian said. "It’s not."
The Bobcats (18-6, 9-1 MAC) beat the Golden Flashes (14-11,5-6) by a single point three weeks ago, in a game that featured 20 lead changes.
Kent State senior forward Chris Evans led the Golden Flashes' offensive charge in the teams' last meeting, as he scored 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Senior guard Randal Holt and junior utility player Darren Goodman had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Christian pointed to the play of sophomore guard Kris Brewer as one of the reasons he thinks the Golden Flashes are playing their best basketball so far this season, citing his improved shooting from beyond the arc.
He's made 10 of 13 three-point attempts over Kent State's last four games, three of which were wins.
In the teams' last outing, Ohio permitted Kent State 16 free throw attempts in the first half. Christian said the Bobcats will need to be more efficient in allowing the Golden Flashes foul shots this time around.
"Especially the guys that aren’t their marquee guys and primary scorers, keeping them off the line is important," he said.
With two points Saturday, Ohio senior forward Reggie Keely will become the 35th player in program history to score 1,000 points or more.
Ohio senior guard D.J. Cooper, who has 877 career assists, needs four more to claim sole possession of the No. 17 spot in the NCAA all-time assist record books. Seven helpers would give him the No. 16 ranking, while one more would move him to No. 15 overall.
Look back at the Bobcats' last game, a 19-point win against Central Michigan, here. Read beat reporter Jim Ryan's game preview here. Follow him and The Post Sports on Twitter for game updates.
First Half
For the fourth-straight game, Ohio's starters are guards Nick Kellogg, a junior, Walter Offutt, a redshirt senior, and Cooper, and forwards Keely and junior T.J. Hall.
Keely kick-started Ohio's offense with a dunk on its first possession, made possible because of an offensive rebound from Hall, who hit a three from the wing on the Bobcats' second trip down the floor.
After a Kent State free throw make, Keely failed to convert the back end of a potential three-point play. The Golden Flashes then did the same, moving the score to 7-3 in Ohio's favor.
Kent State moved within two heading into the first media timeout, during which Ohio senior forward Ivo Baltic checked in for Hall, who picked up two fouls in the first five minutes.
Redshirt junior forward Jon Smith also checked in soon thereafter.
Cooper hit a transition three coming out of the stoppage to give the Bobcats a three-point lead.
Ohio guards Stevie Taylor, a sophomore, and Ricardo Johnson, a junior, checked in at the 13-minute mark.
The Golden Flashes scored five straight to take thier first lead inside the 12-minute mark.
Ohio junior forward Travis Wilkins was inserted into the game with 10:27 remaining in the half.
Kent State mounted a five-point lead with nine minutes to play in the half because of a free throw make from Holt.
The Golden Flashes extended their margin by a basket heading into the second media timeout. Ohio had not scored for more than two minutes of game play at that point.
The Bobcats and Golden Flashes traded layups heading into the six-minute mark, at which Kent State still led by seven.
Back-to-back layups from Cooper and Offutt inside the five-minute mark moved the Bobcats within five and snapped a series of 1-for-13 shooting.
Offutt then brought Ohio within three with a pair of free throw conversions. Three minutes remained in the half.
After an up-and-under layup from Kellogg, Cooper notched a steal at mid-court and made a contested three from the wing to give the Bobcats their first lead since the 14-minute mark.
The basket capped a 10-0 run.
After forcing a steal with less than six seconds to play in the half, Cooper nailed a three at the buzzer to give the Bobcats a five-point advantage.
Halftime: Ohio 31, Kent State 26
Despite shooting only 36 percent from the field in the first half, the Bobcats surged late in the opening stanza to top Kent State heading into the break.
Cooper and Offutt led the Bobcats with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Evans was the Golden Flashes' leader. He scored six points and had eight rebounds.
Kent State shot 31 percent from the floor, and converted only one of its seven three-point attempts.
Second Half
The Bobcats started the second half on a hot note, as Hall hit a corner three less than 30 seconds in and Kellogg cashed in a wide-open layup on a feed from Cooper to give Ohio a 10-point lead.
Kent State cut the lead to seven within the first three minutes, but the Bobcats scored four straight to expand the margin to 11 — a game high at that point.
Two straight fastbreak plays — one of which was a tip-slam from Baltic — gave the Bobcats a 15-point lead at the 15:07 mark.
A pair of empty trips down the floor for Ohio resulted in the Golden Flashes bringing the score within nine with 13 minutes to play.
A pair of Kent State three-pointers kept the game within arm's reach for the Golden Flashes around the mid-point of the second half. On the other end, though, the Bobcats had a trio of plays under the basket from Smith to minimize the Golden Flashes' shooting.
A quick five-point burst brought the Golden Flashes within four with 6:39 to play, and just more than a minute later they took the lead with a three-pointer and short jumper.
The score was 62-61 in Kent State's favor with 5:20 to play — a margin that stayed constant through the 3:51 mark.
Hall hit a wide-open three with 3:25 remaining to give the Bobcats a two-point advantage, prompting Kent State to call a timeout.
After empty trips by both teams, Holt hit a runner to tie the game at 67.
Keely converted two free throw attempts with 1:11 to play to move the score to 69-67 in the Bobcats' favor.
Brewer then hit a pair of free throws to even the score once again with a minute to play.
Christian called a timeout with 56.8 seconds to play.
Ohio came up empty on its trip down the floor, but Kent State threw the ball away with 3.4 seconds remaining to give the Bobcats one last shot at the basket.
Cooper missed from mid-court, however. The game moved to a five-minute overtime with the score knotted at 69.
Overtime
The Golden Flashes struck first in the overtime period, as Holt converted a layup less than a minute in. He was fouled, but missed the extra shot. Keely collected the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two shots.
Offutt gave the Bobcats their first overtime lead with just more than three minutes remaining on a jumper from the baseline.
After a defensive stop, Cooper was fouled while driving the lane and made one of two free throws.
The Bobcats led by two with 2:30 remaining, but saw the margin equalized soon thereafter because of a Kent State dunk.
Brewer gave the Golden Flashes a one-point lead with 1:16 remaining.
Offutt threw the ball away on Ohio's ensuing possession, however, giving the Golden Flashes the ball with 58 seconds to play.
Cooper committed his fifth foul with 32 seconds on the clock, which sent Brewer to the line. He made one of two to give Kent State a two-point lead.
Ohio had 25.3 seconds left when it called a timeout in order to set up its final play.
Taylor hit a corner three to give the Bobcats the lead, and Kellogg banked in a layup to ice the game with only several seconds remaining to give Ohio a season-sweep of Kent State.
Final: Ohio 78, Kent State 75
It took an extra five minutes for the Bobcats to bring home their fourth-straight win, but they did so in dramatic fashion and brought The Convo to its feet.
A small contingent of students rushed the court and hoisted Taylor onto their shoulders while Kent State filed off the court.
Statistics
Offutt: 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals
Cooper: 13 points, eight assists, four rebounds, four steals
Kellogg: 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting
Keely: 10 points, six rebounds
Reactions
"Like coach says, we have to learn (that) when we’re up on teams, we have to bury them." — Taylor
"We had a 10-point lead with about 15 (minutes) to go and we just stopped guarding them. I don’t blame us for that. I give Kent credit because Kent has a lot of pride." — Christian
"That’s my role on this team, to back up Coop. And that’s what I do at a high level. I take pride in that." Taylor on entering the game after Cooper fouled out
"I think there’s some value in winning some games like this. I think we got down one with one minute to go both times and it showed resilience on everybody’s part. Coop went out with foul trouble and Stevie got to step up." — Offutt
"My job is to be ready and, if my number is called, to step up. And that’s what I did." — Taylor
"He was throwing up during the game. We had to slide the trash can over there for him. (He would) throw up and get back out there." — Christian, on Cooper's sickness
Twitter Notes
Cooper was feeling under the weather? It was hard to tell...
Ohio didn't "shoot with confidence" in the first half...
The Breakfast Blackout was a success, attendance-wise...
Evans shot 7-for-12 for 18 points and had 14 rebounds...
Offutt came through in the clutch...
Up Next
Ohio (19-6, 10-1 MAC) will play its second-straight home game Wednesday against Eastern Michigan. The Eagles (11-13, 4-6 MAC) play Ball State on the road at 2 p.m. Saturday.
