Ohio (4-16, 2-8 Mid-American Conference) traveled to Oxford Saturday for the first rendition of the Battle of Bricks in the 2025 season against Miami (12-8, 5-5 MAC). Ohio was looking to take one against its rival in enemy territory but came up far short in a 72-34 loss.
The Bobcats came out tough in this contest and brought tenacity on defense, forcing three turnovers in the first few minutes of play and capitalizing for a 6-2 lead. The work in the passing lanes and on in-bounds propelled the Bobcats to force these turnovers, and its physicality and ball pressure had to be a key coming into this matchup.
“Our offense put our defense in a bad spot too often towards the end,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said. “I thought earlier we did a really nice job playing good defense.”
Miami was not fazed by the early defensive heat. It was efficient on defense and went on a 9-0 run after forcing some tough shots on Ohio and missing its open looks to take an 11-6 lead into the second period.
The RedHawks started the quarter blistering hot on a 9-0 run that was finally halted on a 3-pointer by sophomore Bailey Tabeling to make the score 20-9. The rest of the quarter would not look much better for the Bobcats, who were outscored 10-5 to close out the half and would see the Bobcats down 30-14 heading into the break. The RedHawks outshot the Bobcats 48 percent to 20 percent from the field, leaving much to be desired heading into the second half.
The second started similarly to how the first half ended, with Miami scoring from all levels and making it difficult for Ohio to shoot the ball. Miami opened on a 6-0 run before a timeout by Ohio and a 3-pointer by Tabeling to follow.
The shots would fall, but not for the Bobcats. The RedHawks converted turnovers into points of their own and kept the pedal on the floor as the lead grew to 42-22. The RedHawks also started to take control of the paint and the glass. They grabbed offensive rebounds and were physical inside, leading to free throws as the lead continued to grow. The third quarter would end with an advantage of 51-24 for Miami with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end it.
The game for Miami came down to a 10-minute clock that needed to expire. The teams went back and forth with baskets. Senior Aliah McWhorter scored 6 points in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter for Ohio, but Miami would not stop its scoring barrage, even in the closing minutes. It continued to nail open looks and make things hard for Ohio with physical defense.
Ohio will head north to Mount Pleasant for a matchup with Central Michigan Wednesday. It will mark Ohio’s last MAC matchup before a break in conference play for its MAC-SBC Challenge matchup with Southern Mississippi next Saturday.
