Ohio trailed by two when sophomore guard Stevie Taylor crossed center court with 23 seconds remaining in the Bobcats’ 78-75 overtime win against Kent State on Saturday.
Senior guard D.J. Cooper, who fouled out with a minute remaining in regulation, watched from the bench as the ball left Taylor’s hands — a dish to senior forward Ivo Baltic at the top of the key, who quickly rotated and bounced a poorly angled pass to redshirt senior guard Walter Offutt. As Offutt hurdled through a trio of Kent State defenders, he realized the path to the basket was too treacherous.
He went airborne and fired the ball across his body to Taylor, who circled back to the near corner after distributing the ball.
Taylor grabbed the ball at chest-level, lowered into his shooting stance, sprang up and released. His defender, sophomore guard Kris Brewer, doubled Offutt in the lane and was a second too late in his recovery. He watched by Taylor’s side as the three-pointer dropped through the twine.
Taylor raised his arms and Brewer hung his head.
Ten seconds later, the ball was back in the Bobcats’ possession, as junior guard Nick Kellogg stripped Randal Holt, the Golden Flashes’ senior floor general, near the foul line. Offutt snagged the loose ball and shoved it up court to Kellogg, who took it in stride and banked it off the glass with two seconds remaining.
Still, the Golden Flashes had a desperation three yet to heave, but that fell short as time expired. It marked the first time since the 2000-’01 season that Ohio (19-6, 10-1 Mid-American Conference) swept Kent State (14-12, 5-7 MAC) in regular season play.
The game was one of many calculated moments — Ohio’s scouting report detailed that Holt prefers to take the final shot himself, so defenders closed in on him quickly, for example — but was won in improvisation.
After pushing the ball to Baltic, Taylor was not supposed to get a return pass. The play was drawn for Offutt to take the ball hard to the glass, but he decided on a different scheme variation, however, after surveying the road to the hoop.
“The play broke down and I was either going to have to force a shot up and maybe I get a foul or maybe I don’t, or kick out for Stevie and a chance to win the game,” Offutt said. “He hit a big-time shot.”
Taylor, who was later hoisted on the shoulders of a crew of O Zone members, admitted it was the biggest shot of his career.
“I just let the play happen, let the play develop,” he said. “Like coach always tells us, ‘Take what the defense gives you.’ That’s what they gave us.”
Just as Offutt wasn’t necessarily supposed to pass to Taylor, Brewer wasn’t supposed to cave in on him in the lane. It was another example of improvisation — one that bit the Golden Flashes in the end.
“We wanted to not leave our men and not give up a three, and if they drove it make them finish,” said Kent State coach Rob Senderoff. “We messed that up.”
It was an unfortunate turn for Kent State, which battled back from a 15-point second-half deficit to tie the game with just more than five minutes remaining.
The Kent State run signaled a collapse of everything Ohio had done to mount a 15-3 run to end the first half, capped by a buzzer-beater from Cooper.
That momentum carried to the other side of the break, where Ohio outscored Kent State 15-5 in the first five minutes.
“We came off the floor with so much energy,” said Ohio coach Jim Christian. “I think it kind of spread to the first 10 minutes of the second half, and at that point the energy just got zapped.”
Christian said the eight lead changes and hearty runs by both teams will provide plenty of teaching points as the team moves through MAC play in search of its first regular season conference championship since its 1993-1994 campaign.
“We’re at the cusp of the season where if you want to go for a championship, this is where you go for it,” he said.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
