Ohio falls to Buffalo in MAC semifinal round, but postseason play may loom for the Bobcats.
CLEVELAND — In a perfect world, it was supposed to be Akron verses Ohio in the Mid-American Conference Championship. After all, the two teams had met three times in the MAC final since 2010 and were the top two seeds in the conference.
But the world isn’t perfect sometimes. Life isn’t either.
No. 2 Ohio lost 88-74 to No. 3 Buffalo Friday night in the MAC semifinal round, ending its quest for a NCAA Tournament berth.
Buffalo (17-14, 10-8 MAC) will play No. 1 Akron Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Antonio Campbell led Ohio (20-10, 11-7 MAC) with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Jaaron Simmons added 15 points in the loss. Willie Conner led Buffalo with 22 points on 60 percent shooting.
“We just weren’t settled in,” Simmons said. “We were very anxious, the ball was a little sticky. We just weren’t playing like we normally play.”
After sweeping Northern Illinois Thursday evening, it seemed like destiny wasn’t on Ohio’s side from the beginning.
The Bulls answered every ball screen the Bobcats threw at them.
Coming out of halftime, the two teams made a combined 8-of-9 3-pointers. Still, after four scores in its first five possessions out of the break, Ohio trailed by 10.
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Even on live ball situations, the ball just seemingly ended up into the hands of a Bulls player.
Buffalo went 0-2 against Ohio in the regular season. Friday, however, that didn't matter.
“I feel the first game, we didn't come play with any effort,” Buffalo’s Blake Hamilton said. “The second game I felt like we outplayed them. We just made some mental mistakes at the end of the game that cost us.
“This game, we just wanted to pick it up more defensively,” he added.
Buffalo held an advantage over Ohio in almost every statistical category Friday. And Ohio couldn’t find its shooting touch early to slow down a confident Buffalo team.
Buffalo shot 48 percent from the field and 51 percent from 3-point territory in the win. It also had six steals and won the rebound battle, 48-36.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Campbell said. “You know, we couldn’t clamp our heels down and get stops.”
After two quick buckets from Campbell to start the game, the Bulls utilized an 11-0 run to smother the Bobcats’ confidence. From there, it seemed the magic from Ohio’s 10-win-turnaround season seeped slowly away.
The Bulls lead for 33 minutes and lead by 17 at one point. Ohio only lead for four minutes.
Despite the loss, Ohio coach Saul Phillips and Campbell said postseason play looms for the Bobcats in the near future.
“They deserve to play. They do. They earned it,” Phillips said. “They earned that right.”
@Lukeoroark
Lr514812@ohio.edu
