Ohio spent the last two games looking for an offensive identity that never came.
In a win against Northwestern Ohio (a Division II opponent) and a loss against Central Michigan, the Bobcats scored just 65 and 50 points, respectively. They shot just 39 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range, too.
But Saturday, the Bobcats finally regained their shooting touch to the tune of 57 percent from the field, including 45 percent from deep, in a 78-68 win over Northern Illinois in The Convo.
“It feels good getting this win, coming back home," Teyvion Kirk said. "Last game wasn’t our best performance, but just making those improvements and those strides forward day in, day out, that’s how we get wins like this.”
Mike Laster scored 31 points, yet again leading Ohio in scoring. But this time, he had help. Kirk added 16, while Gavin Block, Jordan Dartis and Kevin Mickle combined for 25 points. The end result was a more balanced, potent offensive attack.
“Our spacing was better; our ball movement was a lot better," Laster said. "Against Central, our spacing was kinda messed up. That affected the flow of our offense. On top of that, we couldn’t make shots.”
Ohio's first Mid-American Conference win of the year was aided by a strong start, and just enough offense to keep Northern Illinois at bay for the entirety of the game.
The closest the Huskies got in the second half was six points, but Kirk countered with a 3-pointer to extend the lead. Northern Illinois cut the lead to six once again, but Laster offset it with a 3-point play.
Simply, whenever Ohio needed a bucket, it came. That wasn't the case over the last two games.
“Offensively, we just looked a lot more like we looked for a majority of the first semester," coach Saul Phillips said. "If we can cut down on turnovers, we can be a pretty darn good offensive team.”
Ohio shot 61.9 percent from the field in the second half, too — a far cry from 35 percent shooting at Central Michigan.
The Bobcats were the MAC's top scoring team headed into Christmas, but fell to fifth entering Saturday's matchup aided by the poor performance at Central Michigan. The brief slump ended, though, as the Bobcats were led by Laster's season and career-high in points.
The important part, however, was that while Laster scored 31 and Kirk had 16, the Bobcats had secondary scoring. The trio of Block, Dartis and Mickle combined for just 12 points against Central Michigan.
“We know we’re a good team, we’ve got to just go out there and play like it every night," Laster said. "We work on a lot of stuff, we have a pretty good scout (team), we’re just trying to stay on the same page every night.”
Nonetheless, the offensive outburst from Laster and added contributions from the rest of the team were enough to vanquish any demons that plagued them for the previous two weeks.
“Nobody likes how we felt the other night," Phillips said. "But we didn’t go into the tank, we just went back to work. So tonight, let’s not get too crazy about how good we feel, let’s just try to beat Ball State.”
