Ohio (5-19, 3-10 Mid-American Conference) welcomed Northern Illinois (12-13, 5-8 MAC) into The Convo Wednesday night. With a 74-70 result in favor of Ohio, the game gave life to a struggling Bobcat team that entered on a five-game losing streak.
However, Northern Illinois didn’t go out without a fight, starting with six-for-eight from the field and five-for-five from 3-point range. The Ohio defense came out in a zone and was picked apart by Northern Illinois before a timeout by Ohio coach Bob Boldon.
“For them to be able to make a switch and to do what they did the last 37 minutes of the game, it just speaks volumes to the type of players that they are, and the type of people that they are, and how much they care about each other,” Boldon said after a slow start.
A quick scheme change on defense turned the tide for the Bobcats, who put together a 43-31 run throughout the remainder of the first half. The Bobcats also produced five turnovers and scored 8 points off them to help take a lead into the half.
“We made a defensive adjustment, and that helps,” Boldon said. “That changed the way that they tried to attack us. You saw more high-low in the second and third quarters, trying to get it to go inside a little bit more. But you know, our players made the adjustment, our players went out and made plays and took things away from them, and that suits us.”
The Bobcats had eight steals throughout the night and were very aggressive once they implemented a high-low system that aimed to force tighter passing lanes. Senior Kennedi Watkins was the leader all over the stat sheet in this game, racking up 23 points and six rebounds, but more importantly she had two key steals in the first half to help Ohio build its defensive presence that lasted through the final buzzer.
“It was just a matchup that went in my favor today, so I'm blessed for that, and I'm grateful that my teammates were able to find me the ball at the right spots,” Watkins said.
The second half would tighten up the game, but Ohio would stay calm and collect itself through runs of scoring by both teams, which were paired equally with runs of turnovers by both teams. Northern Illinois would close the halftime gap down to just a few points to start the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats had controlled the game since the half, and now they would have to dig deep to win the game and complete a season sweep of the Huskies.
Ohio went on to rely on what got the team where it is: its defense. The other caveat in the final 10 minutes would be foul trouble for the Huskies, who would allow the Bobcats to shoot 14 free throws and score 12 points off of them down the stretch.
The Convo got tense as Ohio led by just 1 point with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to play, and you could hear a pin drop with every second that ticked off the clock. Neither team would score over the next 3 minutes of play until, once again, Ohio’s defense stepped up and forced a crucial miss and recovered the rebound with only 14 seconds to spare.
“You gotta win the next possession, and then you deal with whatever the consequences are of that possession,” Boldon said. “I thought we did a good job. They had some good shots, but they missed them.”
These little tense moments build up throughout the game and always mean the most in the closing seconds. The Bobcats played some hardnosed defense when it mattered most and forced contested shots to miss and turnovers to go their way. This tough play helped bring home a 74-70 in front of the Athens faithful.
