Ohio came from behind to beat Miami 66-57 in the 205th installment of the “Battle of the Bricks” on Friday night inside The Convo.
Jason Carter had a career-high 26 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Senior night was thought to have turned sour for Gavin Block and Doug Taylor, who played their final game in The Convo for the Bobcats (14-16, 6-12 Mid-American Conference), but the offense picked up in the second half, Miami shot poorly and the Bobcats won their first game over the RedHawks in three tries.
Here are three stats that mattered:
28.4
The RedHawks (15-16, 7-11 MAC) had one of their worst shooting night’s of the season, and that helped the Bobcats. Miami hasn’t won in The Convo since 2011, and shooting 28.4 percent from the floor was a big reason why that streak wasn’t snapped.
The Bobcats didn’t shoot much better, but they found a way to overcome their struggles to win on Senior Night. Ohio was 38.5 percent from the floor, and it looked out of sync for much of the first half — and the entire game. But it didn’t matter.
Miami shot terribly.
3
At the end of the first half, Teyvion Kirk and Jason Preston combined for four turnovers, and the Bobcats seemed out of sorts on offense.
But the second half was a different story for the young backcourt. Kirk and Preston combined for just three turnovers in the second half, allowing Ohio to come back and defeat Miami. Preston grabbed seven rebounds in the game to go with 10 points, while Kirk had just two points.
10
With the win, the Bobcats jumped Ball State, who lost to Northern Illinois, into the 10 seed in the MAC Tournament. They’ll play Northern Illinois on Monday night on the road. Ohio had been in the 11th spot for a couple weeks, but it moved up on the final night of the regular season.
This is the second straight season and the third time in the Saul Phillips era the Bobcats have played a road game in the first round of the MAC Tournament. Last season, Ohio played Miami in the first round and lost.
