The script Ohio wrote in its past four Mid-American Conference games was acted out once again Wednesday at The Convo, as first-half struggles continued to plague the Bobcats.
Unlike in games past, Ohio didn’t dominate second half play, and Bowling Green climbed from the first half deficit to win by a count of 58-56.
Ohio (13-5, 3-2 MAC) started the game hot with two Maurice Ndour threes that propelled the Bobcats to an early 15-6 lead at the 12:19 mark in the first half.
Bowling Green (9-9, 3-2 MAC) made adjustments on the defensive end at that point, however, confounding Ohio by switching from the press defense it has used for a good portion of the season to a zone that played a role in the Bobcats’ 18 turnovers.
“We played awful against the zone the entire night,” said Ohio coach Jim Christian. “All the concepts that we teach and work on, we just didn’t do any of them. We were just bad in all areas of zone offense and we need to get much better.”
After beginning regulation with ghastly three of 16 makes from the field, the Falcons found a way to remove the lid from the top of the rim and shot 66 percent (eight of 12) for the final 11:45 of the half.
Senior guard Travis Wilkins provided Ohio with a 33-30 lead going into the break, sinking three free throws with three seconds left in the half.
The second stanza started smoothly for the Bobcats, as they drained three of their first six shots en route to a 39-37 lead at the first media timeout of the final half.
It was at the 15:27 mark that Bowling Green coach Louis Orr used a timeout to pull out the zone once again. It had similar results to those of the first half, holding Ohio to 17 points and forcing six turnovers in the remainder of the contest.
“We have two primary defenses,” Orr said. “Ohio, they run some really good movement and a lot of ball screens. … The zone kind of slowed the movement down a little bit and I thought defensively, in the zone, we guarded the three (well).”
In the last 5:16 of the game, the Falcons never relinquished their lead despite giving the Bobcats multiple opportunities to swing the game back in their favor.
With 2:21 remaining, Ohio had the ball and trailed the Falcons 54-53, but a careless dribble from junior guard Stevie Taylor was stolen by Jehvon Clarke and converted into an easy basket to bump Bowling Green’s lead to three.
“I think my play down the stretch there was the reason why (Ohio lost),” Taylor said. “I put my team in a bad situation. I haven’t been pleased with my play at all, so I take full responsibility with what happened out there tonight.”
After Clarke missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18 seconds remaining, the Bobcats had one last opportunity to tie the game or send it to overtime, trailing 58-56.
But strong defense blew up the play Christian drew up, resulting in a contested and missed three-point attempt from senior guard Nick Kellogg at the buzzer.
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