Open your thesaurus and find every synonym for the word excitement.
That’s the only way to capture the action in Ohio’s thrilling 95-90 overtime win against Toledo in front of 9,173 people at The Convo.
“This was just a great college basketball game,” coach Jim Christian said. “Our atmosphere was phenomenal and it was just, to me, in my 25 years doing this, it’s probably the most fun I’ve had at a basketball game.”
The game resembled a heavyweight boxing match, with two of the best teams on each side of the Mid-American Conference exchanging blows and making runs.
“For our team, we needed one of these games to kind of grind out and finally come out on the winning side,” senior guard Nick Kellogg said. He would finish with a career-high nine assists to pair with 18 points.
Trailing 29-21 after a blistering Toledo run, Ohio stormed back with a 11-0 run of its own, igniting a raucous crowd with hustle plays and excellent decisions in transition.
Bucking a trend that has haunted them in past conference games, the Bobcats’ offense operated at full capability in the first 20 minutes, shooting 57.6 percent from the field and while hitting five of their 13 three-point attempts.
After falling behind by nine early in the second half, Toledo displayed why it has the highest scoring offense in the conference, rattling off a 29-9 run to build a 69-58 lead with 8:58 remaining in regulation.
Following the trend of this bout, Ohio roared back once again, inching back slowly to eventually tie the game at 74 with 4:47 left in the second half.
It was the third consecutive game the Bobcats came back from a double digits deficit in the second half, prompting Christian to wax positive about the fight of his team.
“We’re getting a tougher mindset,” Christian said. “It happens because we’re becoming a resilient team and I think we’re able to weather it. That’s the one thing about this team that I love is that we’re able to weather things and not become too obsessed with the negative.”
Much of Toledo’s ability to build leads and recover from scoring droughts was the exceptional play of guard Juice Brown, who tied a game-high with 28 points to pair with seven assists and five rebounds.
With 15 seconds remaining in the second half, Brown showed his moxie, drilling a pull-up jumper over the outstretched arms of the Ohio defense to tie the game at 83 and send it to the Bobcats’ third overtime game of the season.
Ohio would counter with exceptional offensive performances of its own, as juniors Maurice Ndour and Stevie Taylor recorded career-highs by scoring 28 points and 23 points, respectively.
Ndour also grabbed 12 rebounds to complete his second consecutive double-double, giving him four on the season.
The overtime period saw both teams trade leads until the final minute, but perhaps the biggest play of the overtime period was a defensive stop by Taylor, who forced Brown into a five-second call with the Rockets only trailing 91-90.
“Juice was lazy with the ball,” Taylor said. “He was being careless. He took a play off and I said this would be a big time, so I pressured him.”
Taylor scored the final four points for the Bobcats, clinching Ohio’s highest rated RPI victory of the season, with the Rockets ranking 30th entering Saturday’s game.
“I like the big games,” Taylor said. “As a point guard, I live for them. I wanted to lead my team today and I think I did a good job with that.”
@c_hoppens
ch203310@ohiou.edu
FAST FACTS:
Ohio 95, Toledo 90
Ohio (16-5, 6-2 MAC)
-Maurice Ndour: 11 of 16 shooting, 28 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks.
-Stevie Taylor: 9 of 15 shooting, 23 points, four assists, one turnover.
-Nick Kellogg: 5 of 15 shooting, 18 points, nine assists, one turnover.
Toledo (18-3, 6-2 MAC)
-Juice Brown: 11 of 20 shooting, 28 points, seven assists, five rebounds.
-J.D. Weatherspoon: 6 of 10 shooting, eight rebounds.
-Jonathan Williams: 5 of 7 shooting, 14 points, 4 of 4 from downtown.
