The common theme heard from Ohio players before Wednesday night’s game was focused upon how difficult it is to win against Western Michigan at University Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.
And that daunting task proved to be too challenging for Ohio, as the Bobcats dug a hole even they couldn’t crawl out of, dropping their first Mid-American Conference road game at Western Michigan 90-74.
Defense and ball security was the issue for Ohio, with the Broncos shooting 59.6 percent from the field with a 16-11 advantage in the turnover department thus providing the Bobcats with their second worst margin of defeat this season.
“When our team plays the way they played tonight, if we’re not going to play with a more mentally-tough mindset, it doesn’t make a difference what defense you play,” coach Jim Christian said. “We were just bad in all facets of the game.”
The Broncos also held serve at the free throw line, sinking 26 of their 35 free throw attempts. On the other end of the spectrum, the Bobcats could only earn 11 chances at the line, making seven of those opportunities.
“We were getting ourselves into foul trouble,” Christian said. “Guys on the perimeter weren’t trying to contain the ball and we went zone. Our zone wasn’t very effective tonight because we weren’t sprinting around.”
Ohio opened the game shooting 10 of 14 from the field and opened leads as big as 11, sparked by hustle defensive plays by senior guard Travis Wilkins.
In a sequence of firsts, Wilkins recorded his first two blocks of the season, sparking a transition layup by senior Nick Kellogg, and he made three-point field goal by sophomore forward Treg Setty.
The strong plays and strokes of luck faded down the stretch of the half, with the Broncos using a 10-0 run in the final 2:43 to take a 37-36 lead into the half.
It was the second consecutive game that the Bobcats broke the 35-point mark in the opening 20 minutes, putting to bed the early offensive struggles that plagued them in the first seven games of conference play.
From a shooting perspective, Ohio’s offense didn’t play badly, shooting 11 of 23 from three and 28 of 54 from the field.
Western Michigan absolutely dominated a second stanza, giving off the air that it simply couldn’t miss, shooting 72.7 percent in the second half.
Offense just came easy and often for the Broncos, scoring 53 second-half points, which is the highest one half margin the Bobcats have allowed this season and prompting Christian to call Wednesday’s performance the worst Ohio’s had this season.
“It was a total team defensive effort,” Christian said. “We’ve been a good team defensive team. Tonight we were really bad, and we paid the price for it.”
And a 23-7 run in favor of Western Michigan late in the second half, paired with nine Bobcat second half turnovers, allowed the Broncos to finally pull away.
Fast Facts
Who: Western Michigan 90 (13-8, 6-3 MAC), Ohio 74 (16-6, 6-3 MAC)
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday
Where: Kalamazoo, Mich.
@c_hoppens
ch203310@ohiou.edu
