The Bobcats turned to their freshman contingent in their 73-47 season-opening victory Saturday.
Maurice Ndour can’t finish every game with a double-double and lead Ohio in scoring.
Throughout a typical season, a team’s star leaders cannot lead every game.
One of the questions coming into this season for Ohio was centered around who of the newcomers will make an immediate impact.
Ryan Taylor, a freshman guard, might have helped answer that Saturday. He scored a game-high 21 points and added four assists and three rebounds in the Bobcats’ 73-47 season-opening victory against Appalachian State.
Although Ndour, a senior forward, was able to tally a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, he was glad to see his younger teammates play well.
“I was just happy to see them play the way they did today, offensively and defensively,” Ndour said.
Ryan Taylor did all that while filling in for the absent Javarez “Bean” Willis, who was serving a suspension for participating in a non-NCAA sanctioned tournament this past summer. Redshirt junior Treg Setty was also at that tournament and will serve his one-game suspension for Wednesday’s game against Florida Gulf Coast.
Although Stevie Taylor had a quiet game offensively with just four points, Ryan Taylor stepped up to help win his and Saul Phillips’ first game.
“Do we look any different with Stevie on the bench and Ryan on the point?” Phillips said. “Now, Stevie gave us some good minutes and did some good things for us, but that bodes well on a lot of levels for us.”
Ohio (1-0) will be tested once again next week with Setty out for the game in Ft. Myers, Florida.
One of the players who will be seeing more minutes after Saturday’s start is Mike Laster, a freshman guard who also contributed early when he cracked the starting lineup. He added seven points, five rebounds and two assists.
Along with Laster, Phillips was happy to play redshirt freshman Khari Harley, who still isn’t 100 percent from a back injury but played Saturday. Harley didn’t score but Phillips is intrigued by his defensive game.
Phillips said it may surprise some fans that many of the newer players finished with a solid first game, but they’ll get to see the Bobcats plenty over the next four years.
“(Harley) just never hurts you. He just doesn’t, he doesn’t make mistakes,” Phillips said. “He’s a kind, much like Ryan, that I think when you stop and think — he’s a freshman. We’ve got four years to watch those guys.”
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