Teyvion Kirk stood outside of his press conference eating a snack and playing with his little brother.
Minutes after helping Ohio halt its six-game losing streak, Kirk was back to himself. No longer was the weight of missed shots and almost a month of losses pressing on him. Instead, it was time to have a little fun.
It took a Kirk layup with seconds remaining to send the Bobcats to overtime, but Ohio upset Bowling Green 92-87 on Friday night in The Convo.
“Once I see that ball go in once, it’s a sigh of relief,” he said.
Throughout the near-month long losing skid, Kirk’s been one of the main characters. Against Akron on Feb. 2, he was just 4-of-13 in the blowout loss. On Tuesday, the Bobcats hit rock bottom in a 47-point loss to Buffalo as he shot 5-of-15 from the field.
None of that mattered Friday night.
He finished the night shooting 7-of-15 and 3-of-6 from the free-throw line with 17 points.
Kirk had his swagger back. He only committed two turnovers, both of which came in the first half. Throughout the second half, he scored nine points, helping the Bobcats compete with the league-leading Falcons.
With less than 10 seconds left in the game, Kirk drove coast-to-coast for a layup that tied the game at 81.
Sending the game to overtime wasn’t enough for the sophomore point guard. In overtime, he scored four points, including the go-ahead layup with 2:16 to play. A defender stepped in to contest the layup, but Kirk still came down with his own rebound and scored the putback. Ohio never trailed the rest of the game after his make.
Kirk matured Friday night. Instead of a few bad possessions bog him down in the first half, he opted to dish out assists. And when his shot started to fall, he made sure it didn’t stop.
With his swagger back, however, Kirk made sure his shots weren’t ending possessions early or costing the Bobcats in crucial moments.
“The types of shots he was taking were really, really good,” coach Saul Phillips said. “He was getting to the rim rather than trying to score through somebody. He can be a catalyst. I think he’s a very good basketball player.”
In his press conference with his brother, Jason, on his lap, Kirk couldn’t stop smiling. Finally, it was OK to smile and joke around. No longer was the black cloud of a losing streak hanging over his head.
With his green warmup shirt back on and earrings back in, Kirk was excited to answer questions about the game. He talked of still competing for a Mid-American Conference Championship and sticking with his teammates throughout this last month.
Jason Carter sat to his left. When Carter was asked if Friday was Kirk’s best game of the season, Carter smiled and talked of always improving. Still, it was hard for him not to admit how well Kirk played.
What Kirk did against Bowling Green was score the easy layups that had to be made. His brother was smiling and laughing throughout the whole press conference, so when asked a question, little Jason Kirk thought it was an easy one.
“Layups,” he whispered into Kirk’s ear with a smile.
