Ohio beat Ball State 79-73 Saturday.
In the final minute of the first half, Ohio freshman Gavin Block drained a 3-point attempt to cut the Bobcats’ deficit at the time to three points.
Thirty seconds later, with the shot clock buzzer ready to sound, Ball State senior Bo Calhoun sunk a 3-pointer from the corner, bring the deficit right back to where it previously stood at six.
It was a deflating moment for Ohio, and one that left those watching to wonder if that’s just the way things were going to play out the rest of the way; for each break the Bobcats would get, the Cardinals would answer with one of their own.
As the second half unfolded, however, it told a much different story, with Ohio starting with a 16-8 run in the first couple of minutes in the second half to regain the lead. The Bobcats never cooled off from that moment on, riding a pair of double-double performances to a 79-73 victory, the first of Ohio’s Mid-American Conference season.
“It puts a lot of pressure on the other team,” redshirt sophomore Jaaron Simmons said of the second half start, which included the Bobcats scoring on each of their first seven possessions.
“Being that (Ryan) Weber didn’t get going as much, (Ball State) didn’t have as much offense to go through ... They made a couple and missed a couple, and the ones they did miss we were able to capitalize on.”
Simmons was one of the Bobcats who recorded a double-double Saturday afternoon, finishing with 21 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, and six assists. The final box score was ultimately an impressive one, especially when accounting for the fact that Simmons shot just 2-8 from the field in the first half, scoring eight points from four trips to the free throw line.
Simmons’ first half struggles were reflective of what the offense as a whole was going through, as the Bobcats shot just shy of 35% going into halftime.
The redshirt sophomore wasn’t the only one, however, to step up in a big way after halftime.
Junior Antonio Campbell, who played just 13 minutes in Wednesday’s MAC opener against Northern Illinois thanks to foul trouble, kept himself on the court for Ohio and made it pay off in a big way.
Campbell finished with a career-high 27 points, including four 3-pointers, and a game-high 13 rebounds, dominating both inside the paint and around the perimeter.
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“Campbell was good in a lot of different ways for us,” coach Saul Phillips said. “He creates a lot of openings for others as well ... he does a lot right."
Campbell was a catalyst in getting Ohio its biggest lead of the game at the time, around the 10-minute mark of the second half, scoring on three consecutive possessions to help make what was once a close game a double-digit lead for the Bobcats.
Ball State’s 3-point shooting kept it from falling out of the game completely, but the Cardinals never closed the gap to less than four points the rest of the way.
Ohio’s victory gives it a 1-1 record in the MAC, and a 10-4 record overall.
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