Ohio has been close to a break-through win all season.
Last Saturday, the Bobcats nearly defeated Bowling Green, who owns the second best record in the Mid-American Conference. Ohio also suffered narrow losses to MAC-leading Akron, West Division-leading Northern Illinois and Buffalo, who came to The Convo for the second meeting of its season Tuesday with the Bobcats.
This time, Ohio never broke down. The Bobcats played one of their best games of the season and delivered a statement win to the rest of the conference in their 80-69 win against the Bulls, their first win against the East Division opponent since 2017.
Ohio carried a 39-26 lead into halftime and opened the game on a 23-6 scoring run. The Bobcats have built strong first half performances against most of the top MAC teams they’ve played this year, but scoring droughts and defensive break downs in the second half have often melted that lead away.
That didn’t happen Tuesday. Instead, the Bobcats picked up where they left off in the first half and continued to combine quality defense with timely field goals.
Ohio held Jayvon Graves, Buffalo’s top shooter, to 16 points. The Bulls lost Jeenathan Williams, who scored a season-high 26 points against Ohio in the last meeting Jan. 14, to an injury in the first half, but Buffalo couldn’t fill the gap.
On the other end of the floor, the Bobcats benefitted from a career-best night from freshman Ben Roderick. He scored 21 points and opened the game with three quick 3-pointers to give Ohio an early boost. Roderick has struggled to consistently produce in conference play, but Tuesday could be a turning point in the forward’s first season with the Bobcats.
With three games left in the regular season, Ohio has finally broken through. The Bobcats have waited for a win to come against one of the MAC’s best, and now they’ll continue to step further toward securing a first-round home game in the MAC Tournament if they can find two wins against their final opponents: Kent State, Akron and Miami.
