BOWLING GREEN — Jason Carter seemed to be having a good night offensively.
With 14:22 remaining Tuesday night at the Stroh Center, Carter hit a shot to give him 22 points on the night, giving Ohio a two-point lead. Up until that moment, he was doing everything for Ohio. He knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers, worked inside and defended Bowling Green drives.
After that shot, Carter was held scoreless — and the Bobcats never led again. Ohio seemed to hit a wall in the second half. The Bobcats were outscored by 21 following Carter’s final bucket, and Ohio lost to Bowling Green 82-63.
“I just think our energy kind of died down in the second half after that 10-minute mark,” Carter said. “We started missing a lot of easy ones, and it’s kind of hard to have energy on the defensive end, which we have to fight through, especially when shots stop falling.”
The Bobcats fell to 1-5 away from The Convo this season and 0-2 in Mid-American Conference play. For the first 30 minutes of the game, it seemed that they could shake their road woes. As the second half progressed, the fast-paced, whistle-free nature of the game caught up with Ohio.
Defensive rotation became slower, and offensive possessions were sloppy.
With 9:06 to play, Ohio (8-6, 0-2 MAC) trailed by just three. It was held scoreless on the next four offensive possessions, though. In that span, Bowling Green (10-5, 2-0 MAC) smelled blood and attacked, burying three 3-pointers to widen the lead to 12.
The dam broke. The wall was hit. Ohio seemed to be out of gas, and as the Bobcats’ offense stalled, the Falcons’ erupted for 52 second-half points.
“A couple missed finishes, and I would say one or two (forced shots) in there,” Phillips said of his stagnant offense in the second half. “Sprinkle in a turnover here or there, and you’ve got your a recipe for a drought.”
In the midst of it all, Falcons’ leading scorer Demajeo Wiggins was held without a point in the game. Ohio zoned in on him and made life difficult for the forward. But his supporting cast wore the Bobcats down. Nine different Falcons played at least 15 minutes; five scored in double figures.
As Ohio continued to run the same bodies for long stretches of the game — which featured only 20 fouls and 15 free throws between both teams — Bowling Green brought in fresh, energized athletes to push the pace. Ohio’s bench was outscored 43-11.
The Bobcats couldn’t keep up.
“We have to do a better job of nailing tendencies of guys that maybe aren’t talked about as much in the scouting report,” coach Saul Phillips said.
With only five minutes remaining, Bowling Green had a 14-point lead. Carter missed a layup, and his shoe slipped off. As the Falcons sprinted to the other end on a potential fast break, Carter seemed exhausted.
So did the other Bobcats. For the second straight game, Ohio stumbled in the second half of a winnable game.
Road woes: Not solved. And Ohio has a wall it needs to get over.
“Once it hit that 10-minute mark, they just started going on a little run,” Carter said. “And we just couldn’t fight back into it.”
Up next
Ohio will travel to Muncie, Indiana, to take on Ball State. Tipoff is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
