PREGAME
The Bobcats (14-5, 4-2) welcome Central Michigan (7-11, 0-6) to The Convo Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Ohio won its last contest on the road at Eastern Michigan 58-56, in comeback fashion. The Bobcats have now won five straight road games in the Mid-American Conference. The Chippewas are on a six game losing streak and are seeking their first win in the MAC. Central Michigan sophomore point guard Chris Fowler paces the squad with 17 points per contest.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Ohio
Junior guard Stevie Taylor, senior guard Nick Kellogg, senior forward T.J. Hall, junior forward Maurice Ndour, redshirt senior forward Jon Smith.
Central Michigan
Freshman guard Braylon Rayson, sophomore guard Austin Stewart, sophomore guard Chris Fowler, sophomore forward Blake Hibbitts, sophomore forward John Simons.
FIRST HALF
Despite being on a six game slide, Central Michigan showed its dominance early, as they raced out to a 33-25 halftime lead.
The Chippewas shot 38.2 percent from the field in the first half and grabbed nine offensive rebounds. Central Michigan pulled in 20 rebounds for the half. They finished the half on a positive note as sophomore forward Blake Hibbitts converted a layup directly before the buzzer sounded. Ohio struggled in the first half as they shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from behind the arc. The Bobcats turned the ball over nine times in the first half, which the Chippewas turned into 12 points.
Both team struggled to shoot early before Ohio jumped out to an early 11-8 lead with 11:53 remaining in the first half. The Chippewas proceeded to come back and cut the Bobcats lead to one point at 15-14 with 7:58 left in the first half. With five minutes remaining in the half, redshirt senior forward Jon Smith stole the ball and passed to junior guard Stevie Taylor for the layup, which increased Ohio’s lead to 23-19. Central trimmed Ohio’s lead to one point with 3:20 left in the first stanza. The Chippewas turned on the heat, as they scored the last 13 points in the first half.
SECOND HALF
The Bobcats have proven all season, that they are a second half team, and the final stanza of tonight’s contest against Central Michigan was no different. Ohio used a huge second half to climb back into the contest as they pulled away for a 71-67 victory.
Three Bobcats scored in double figures as Ohio won its second game in a row. Junior forward Maurice Ndour finished with a double double, as he scored 21 points and added 11 rebounds.
Ohio started the second half slow, but gradually started to put pressure on Central Michigan as the Bobcats went on a 9-0 run which started at the 14:48 mark of the second stanza to cut the Chippewas lead to 48-39. However freshman guard Braylon Rayson hit a jumper to halt the Bobcats momentum as Central extended its lead to 51-39.
The Bobcats tied the score at 51 apiece with 8:00 minutes left in the contest. Both teams traded baskets until Ohio took a 65-64 lead with 3:25 left in the game. Senior guard Nick Kellogg made two key free throws with 2:49 remaining. Following a layup by Chippewas sophomore guard Chris Fowler at the 2:35 mark that tied the score at 67, Taylor made a jump shot that gave the Bobcats a 69-67 lead. With 21 seconds remaining in the game, Central Michigan’s Blake Hibbitts missed a three-point attempt to tie the game at 70 before the final buzzer sounded.
