Ohio powers past Arkansas-Pine Bluff partially thanks to Antonio Campbell's 26 points.
Until style points start getting factored into win-loss records, Ohio’s victory on Monday won’t count for anything less than any of its previous seven.
That’s important, because the Bobcats (8-3) needed to rely on a strong free throw performance while their 3-point shooting and ball care fell by the wayside in a 65-58 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Junior forward Antonio Campbell led the way for Ohio with a career-high 26 points on 9-14 shooting with 12 rebounds.
"He makes us tick," redshirt senior Treg Setty said. "He's a much more efficient player than anybody else, not only on our team but in the conference as well. Whenever we can get him going, anything else is just icing on the cake. He's our gauge. We gauge off him. If Tone's hot, we're hot. If Tone's cold, we're cold."
The Bobcats began the game in the kind of dominating fashion one would expect against the Golden Lions — a team that entered the contest with a 2-10 record — when Campbell and company raced out to an 11-2 advantage in the first six minutes of the game. Eight of Ohio’s points during that run came from Campbell, who was relentless on the block, scoring 18 of his points inside the paint.
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After establishing the early run, Ohio turned sloppy with its ball handling, turning the ball over nine times in the first half. Ohio also struggled to control the paint with Campbell on the bench, something that led to many empty possessions and allowed Arkansas-Pine Bluff to stay competitive.
Even when it struggled to control the paint on offense, however, Ohio still dominated it on the defensive front. That was evident by Arkansas-Pine Bluff beginning the game being 2-for-21 from the field.
Given its struggles to shoot from inside the arc, Arkansas-Pine Bluff was forced to rely on outside shooting to keep the game in striking distance. That philosophy, actually, improved gradually as the game pressed on, as Arkansas-Pine Bluff sunk six-of-seven 3-point tries in the second half, hindering any chance Ohio had to establish another breakaway run.
Unable to extend its lead consistently, Ohio had no choice but to simply try to maintain the lead it had already achieved, which meant reliably sinking free throws when given the opportunity. The Bobcats hit 23-of-26 from the charity stripe and continually leaned on Campbell.
"People know what I can do," Campbell said. "I can score on the block and can stretch it out to three."
Setty was the lone Bobcat outside of Campbell to reach double figures in Ohio’s lowest-scoring game of the season, finishing with 13 points on 7-of-7 free throw shooting to go with seven rebounds. Kenny Kaminski finished with eight points and seven rebounds while Jaaron Simmons, who entered the game as Ohio’s leading scorer, attempted just three shots during the contest and finished with six points and six assists.
"I really tried after the game to leave (the team) with some perspective about how far this program's come since last season and how happy I am to be around them every day and appreciate the work they put in," Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. "It was a really rough offseason for our family. And, every time I walk in the gym, for them to be so eager, so upbeat, so ready to go and ready to respond the way they have … I just appreciate this group."
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