Ohio coach Jeff Boals made the message clear following his team’s 90-85 season-ending loss to Toledo: the season was a disappointment. Ohio came into the season as a favorite to finish first in the Mid-American Conference, but finished fifth and were the second team eliminated from MAC Championship contention.
“The one regret I had coaching this team was we only got it for nine games,” Boals said. “They showed a lot of resiliency, a lot of toughness, multiple times throughout the course of the year. They never wavered.”
Ohio, although not wanting to make any excuses, played with a fully healthy roster only nine out of the season's 32 games.
Ohio’s loss was its third of the season at the hands of Toledo, coming just six days after its second to end the regular season. The previous game ended in a far more decisive fashion, Toledo coming out on top by a 14-point margin. Ohio could not have played its opponent closer in Cleveland, taking Toledo to overtime.
Ohio’s primary contributor was junior guard Jackson Paveletzke, who scored a game- and career-high 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk noted his respect for both Ohio and Paveletzke following the game, stating how difficult it was to keep Paveletzke in front of his defenders.
That amounted to foul trouble throughout the game for the Rockets, whose leading scorer in the game, Isaiah Adams, would foul out on the last full Ohio possession of regulation as Paveletzke knifed to the rim for lead-taking free throws.
Adams started the game on the right foot for Toledo, draining two early 3-pointers for 6 of Toledo’s first 8 points. Toledo held the lead for the vast majority of the first half and were ahead or tied for all but 50 seconds of overtime.
Fouling would ultimately extend the game more than anything, as the two teams combined for 56 free throws, 35 awarded to Toledo.
“When you shoot 35 free throws, it’s like, ‘What’s a foul? What’s not a foul?’” Boals said. “I thought that was the difference in the game. T29 made free throws to 16 … and I thought our defense was a lot better than it was (in the last matchup against Toledo).”
Despite a sluggish offensive start and Toledo’s seemingly unending willingness to get to the line, Ohio kept it close, finishing the first half down just 4 points. The Bobcats did its best to limit key facets of the Rockets’ offense. All-MAC Second Teamer Sam Lewis was held to an inefficient night while All-MAC Honorable Mention Javan Simmons had just as many shots (5) as turnovers and fouls.
In the second, Ohio got life from graduate students Shereef Mitchell and Vic Searls, playing in what would be their last game as Bobcats. Alongside them, senior AJ Clayton pitched in a double-digit scoring night in a heartbreaking end to his and his fellow graduates’ careers.
“It was a pretty hard locker room at the end,” Boals said. “AJ Clayton and Shereef Mitchell, both those guys could have left last year and made a lot more money, but they trusted us. … It was awesome coaching AJ for four years, (Mitchell) for two and then Vic, coming from Ashland, was an integral part of our team this year.”
Late efforts and bad free-throw luck for Toledo led to Ohio tying the game, fouling out Adams and his 26 points to end regulation 76-76. Despite Ohio making more winning plays down the stretch, the trend was reversed in overtime. Toledo scored the first basket and never looked back, taking Ohio’s season with it.
“At that point, the guys were tired,” Boals said. “You have to make plays and (Toledo) made a couple more plays than we did.”
