Men's Basketball: Bobcats remain perfect in battle with the Bonnies

Ohio Athletics gave away free "We Are Ohio" scarves to the first 1,000 students through The Convo's doors Wednesday for the Bobcats' game against St. Bonaventure. 

It's become apparent through Ohio's first five games — all wins — what type of team the Bobcats are.

It might be easy for people outside the program to size up Ohio so far this season, but the Bobcats still focused on proving themselves to those sitting across the locker room.

"We talked ... as a group that we have to make statements to ourselves, not to other people about the type of basketball we want to play and the heart we want to display," Ohio coach Jim Christian said after Ohio's 25-point win against Richmond Saturday.

It's not necessarily the Bobcats' tangible assets that have Christian excited, but the togetherness the club has shown so far this season. 

Still, there's plenty for him to smile at when he looks at the stat sheet.

The Bobcats' five wins, in which they have shot better than 50 percent from the field, have come at an average of 25 points per pop. They hold a positive turnover margin of 8.6 and have five players averaging more than 10 points per contest.

St. Bonaventure comes to town holding a 3-1 record and fresh off a five-point win against Niagara Saturday. 

The Bonnies, like the Bobcats, reached the NCAA Tournament last season, but fell in the opening round.

"They’re an NCAA Tournament team and won their conference tournament, which is not an easy tournament to win, and they have a lot of pieces back," Christian said. 

The Bonnies largely use a system based on driving the basket and dishing the ball out to shooters outside the paint, thus averaging more than 15 assists per game.

"They kind of play four guards and can really penetrate with the basketball," Christian said.

A key for Ohio in combating St. Bonaventure's post presence will be to keep senior forward Reggie Keely out of foul trouble. 

He had four fouls against Richmond and was limited to only 12 minutes and no points.

"Reggie has to learn from that because a lot of the fouls were position fouls," Christian said. "Like I tell them, ‘The harder you play, the less you foul.’ He got himself out of position a little bit, so he has to learn from that."

The teams' last meeting was in 2010, when St. Bonaventure bested Ohio in a four-overtime thriller. 

Look back at the Bobcats' last game, a 25-point win against Richmond, here. Read basketball beat reporter Jim Ryan's game preview here. Follow him and The Post Sports on Twitter for game updates.

 

First Half

Ohio's starters are as follows: Senior guard D.J. Cooper, redshirt senior guard Walter Offutt, junior guard Nick Kellogg, senior forward Ivo Baltic and redshirt junior forward Jon Smith.

Smith won the game's opening tip in front of a packed Ohio O Zone, but the Bobcats were off the mark on their first drive to the basket. The Bonnies were called for travelling on their first trip down the court, as well. 

Kellogg tossed up a three-pointer that was way off the mark on the Bobcats' second possession, and Offutt rattled one off the rim after the Bobcats took possession when the ball was knocked out of bounds.

St. Bonaventure was the first to score on a layup where Baltic was whistled for goaltending. 

Cooper was the first to put one through the twine, though, as he hit a three-pointer three minutes into the game to give the Bobcats their first lead of the game.

Kellogg hit another on the Bobcats' next possession, making good of a dish from Cooper that left him wide open in the corner. 

The Bonnies fired back with a three of their own, but the Bobcats led 6-5 at the first media timeout.

The Bobcats were whistled for a shot clock violation on their next time down the floor, and Offutt fouled Johnson to put the Bonnies on the charity stripe for the first time of the game.

He made one of two to tie the game once again.

Keely committed his first foul of the game, on the offensive end, upon entry to the game. Offutt missed his second three-point attempt Ohio's next possession, but Baltic forced a tip out of bounds in Ohio's favor. 

Ohio junior guard Travis Wilkins checked in for Kellogg at that point. 

Offutt drained a redemption three-pointer on the resulting play to put Ohio ahead 9-6 with 13 minutes left in the half.

The Bobcats sneaked out to a six-point lead off of a steal near center court from Keely, who passed to Wilkins, who fed the ball to junior forward T.J. Hall. An up-and-under layup and and-one foul shot later, the Bobcats were ahead 12-6 with just more than 12 minutes remaining in the half.

The Bonnies battled back with a three-pointer of their own on the next possession, however. 

They then pulled ahead with a layup in transition, but Cooper fought back with a similar play of his own to even the score.

Ohio junior guard Ricardo Johnson then checked in. 10:30 remained in the half.

Smith had a monster block on the Bonnies' next trip down the floor, switching off his man and getting a hand on the ball, knocking it out of bounds.

Cooper snaked his way through a sea of St. Bonaventure defenders after a pair of missed foul shots, kissing a layup off the glass for an and-one opportunity, though he missed the extra shot.

Cooper fed Baltic for an alley-oop layup from the corner on Ohio's next possession, giving Ohio a 18-17 lead with eight minutes remaining. 

Offutt hit a pair of foul shots on Ohio's next trip down the floor to put Ohio ahead more so, but the Bonnies' Charlon Kloof hit a three to even the score once again.

Off a steal by Smith, Cooper drove down the court and dished the ball to Baltic under the basket, who went up-and-under for two points, giving Ohio a 22-20 lead with 6:24 remaining in the half.

The lead swung back to St. Bonaventure's favor when senior guard Eric Mosely hit his third three of the game.

Cooper penetrated the basket on the Bobcats' ensuing trip down the floor, and kicked the ball to Offutt on the wing, who knocked down a three. 

Mosely didn't hesitate to put up another three on the Bonnies' next possession, draining it, but he was yet trumped by a pair of threes from Kellogg and Offutt.

The Bonnies had hit six of their seven three-point attempts at that point. 

Ohio led 34-28 with 2:19 remaining in the half. 

Smith started what was the Bobcats' defining play of the half with a monster block on a St. Bonaventure layup attempt. The ball was picked up by Cooper, who ran the floor and fed Kellogg, who was driving under the basket, for a slick reverse layup. 

It completed a six-point run to end the half. 

 

Halftime: Ohio 37, St. Bonaventure 29

The Bobcats closed the first half on a 12-3 run, and finishing with six three-pointers and a 44 percent mark from the field.

St. Bonaventure knocked down an even half of its shots, including six from long range.

Keely did not manage to shy away from contact in the first half, as he was whistled for a pair of fould and played only three minutes, in which he did not attempt a shot.

Offutt led the Bobcats with 11 points on three-of-seven shooting, while Cooper and Kellogg both had eight points. Cooper had five assists, as well.

Smith was a force on the defensive end, swatting away three field goal attempts and garnering as many steals. 

St. Bonaventure's Mosely led the Bonnies, hitting each of his four attempts from beyond the arc. 

Ohio had 12 points in the paint — double its opponents' total — and had 14 more off turnovers. 

 

Second Half

Kellogg began the second half with a steal at mid-court. From there, he tiptoed the sideline, outran a St. Bonaventure defender and drove the hoop for a contested finger roll.

Before the Bonnies had a chance to change their side of the scoreboard for the first time, Offutt hit a three-pointer to up Ohio's lead to 11 — the first double-digit margin of the game.

Action picked up five minutes into the half, when Baltic sneaked back on what would have been a wide-open dunk and swatted the ball away from a driving St. Bonaventure player. He was charged with a foul on the play, though.

Cooper followed the play with a floater in the lane of his own, which put Ohio ahead 46-38 with 15 minutes to play in the game.

Cooper was then subbed out in favor of sophomore guard Stevie Taylor, who played only three minutes in the first half. Cooper had yet to record an assist or point in the second half.

After heading into the half hot, the Bobcats allowed the Bonnies to go on a 10-4 run after the break. 

Keely connected for his first real physical impressino with 12:34 left in the game, overpowering a St. Bonaventure defender, knocking him down before floating in a layup.

Soon thereafter, though, he was outworked on the other end, being blown by in the paint by sophomore center Youssou Ndoye. 

The Bonnies were on a 14-9 run at that point, and trailed by only six. 12 minutes remained in the game.

The Bobcats began to work their way into foul trouble midway through the half, as Baltic picked up his fourth foul and was sent to the bench, and Cooper added his second and third in back-to-back fashion inside the 11-minute mark.

The Bonnies brought the score within one with nine minutes left on a Mosely three-pointer from the wing, after which Christian called timeout to regroup.

Kloof then gave the Bonnies the lead with a steal-and-dunk in which he hung on the rim just a bit long enough to grind Cooper's gears. Cooper attempted a wild three on the other end of the floor and was pulled from the game by Christian in favor of Taylor.

With eight minutes remaining in the game, Ohio trailed St. Bonaventure 54-53. It had not scored in about four minutes at that mark.

Smith had the opportunity to put the Bobcats back in the driver's seat after collecting his own rebound and being fouled, but missed the first half of a bonus attempt.

Hall hit a momentus three from the wing to tie the game at 56 with 6:20 on the clock. On the Bonnies' next trip down the floor, Smith swatted away what looked to be an open layup. Kellogg took the ball in transition and ran the length of the court for two more points. 

Ohio led 58-56 with 5:45 left in the game.

Baltic checked back in to the game for the long haul more than a minute later. He had four fouls at that point. 

The Bobcats led 59-58 with four minutes remaining. 

The Bonnies hit a three, though, to put them ahead by a pair on their next possession.

Trailing by three with 2:38 remaining, Smith went to the line for a pair. He made both to bring the score to 62-61. 

Inside the two-minute mark, the Bonnies charged to the hoop, but the ball was swatted away by a combination of Baltic and Offutt to give Ohio possession. 

Christian called a timeout with 1:31 remaining and 24 seconds on the shot clock.

Cooper fed Smith for a wide-open dunk on the interior to put Ohio ahead 63-62 with 1:08 on the clock. St. Bonaventure called a timeout upon crossing half court. 

St. Bonaventure hit a two in the lane with less than a minute remaining, but Cooper surged back on the other end of the floor, hitting a deep three to give Ohio a two-point lead with 37 seconds on the clock.

The Bobcats came up with a defensive rebound with 20 seconds remaining, collecting the ball at the bottom of a scrum to put them in the driver's seat with time winding down. 

Christian had made his way to half-court while watching the call, and Offutt called a timeout on the corresponding inbound pass to make sure the Bobcats had everything squared away for their next trip down the floor.

Cooper hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds on the clock to extend Ohio's lead to four, and Kellogg tacked on another with 6.5 seconds remaining to put the win in the books.

 

Final: Ohio 69, St. Bonaventure 64

The Bobcats escaped — in every sense of the word — with a five-point win against St. Bonaventure Wednesday, moving their record to 6-0 on the year.

Ohio wrapped the game up with a pair of trips to the foul line inside the 20-second mark.

Ohio, which had not had a game decided by less than eight points heading into the matchup, showed its crunchtime mettle against the Bonnies by converting its final seven opportunities into points within the game's last 2:37 of play.

 

Statistics

Cooper: 16 points, eight assists, two steals

Offutt: 14 points, five rebounds

Kellogg: 13 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals

Hall: Seven points, two rebounds

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Mosely: 19 points, six-for-eight from three, four assists

Johnson: 17 points, five rebounds, four assists

Conger: 10 points, seven rebounds

Kloof: 10 points, four rebounds, five fouls

 

Reactions

"The beautiful part of playing basketball in November — and we’re still in November — is that win, lose or draw, there’s going to be things that your team has to get better and develop. This was our first close game and coming back from behind. The resiliency of our team I’m very impressed with." — Christian

"I didn’t plan on that. When I was bringing the ball down I didn’t think about it. I was just trying to attack. There (were) like 35 seconds left and I was open. Me and coach work on that shot every day." — Cooper, on his three-pointer with 38 seconds left

"It’s an opportunity to grow and get better at some of the things we didn’t do so well tonight. We’re thankful for the win. We did enough things to come out on top." — Kellogg