CLEVELAND — First came Saul Phillips. Then Kenny Kaminski. And finally Jaaron Simmons. The three each walked into the basement of The Q with the thousand-yard stare. The upstart sixth-seed Kent State had just upset second-seeded Ohio.
It would be the Golden Flashes, not the Bobcats, that earned a trip to the Mid-American Conference Championship.
The three Bobcats looked as if they'd just seen a ghost. Or maybe they'd just seen themselves.
It was supposed to be Ohio in the final, it seemed scripted. The Bobcats had risen from the floor so many times, it was typical. It just seemed fitting that they'd do it again. But this time, they just couldn't extend extend the magic.
"We lost a hard‑fought battle tonight," Phillips said. "I thought we made the plays to win it. Didn't go our way. We're not going to make an excuse. I don't think I've had a group that showed the resiliency and togetherness throughout this whole process. Every fiber of my being is proud of what they accomplished."
At the start of that opening statement, Phillips was the opposite of his usual energetic self, this time staring into only the microphone as he spoke.
By the end, he had to put his head down to compose himself. It was the only way to stop the tears from flowing.
In October, this was supposed to be the year for the Bobcats, who looked primed for an NCAA Tournament appearance and a MAC title. In mid-January, however, "the year" took on a completely new meaning.
Antonio Campbell broke his foot against Eastern Michigan. Ohio's best player would be sentenced to a mobility scooter for the rest of the season. The reigning MAC Player of the Year would be replaced by a freshman that hadn't made a start and a sophomore that came off the bench.
Ohio held the second seed in the MAC then, but at the time, the season seemed lost. Yet, just under two months after the injury, there Ohio stood. Two points away from the conference's biggest stage.
It was easy to see why Phillips was so emotional.
"If life was fair, Tony wouldn't have broke his foot either, so start making excuses, no big deal," Phillips said. "If you're men, you handle it, you move on."
Just 24 hours earlier, Kaminski played hero and made a jumpshot to extend Ohio's season against Toledo. On the same basket a night later, Jaylin Walker played the same role for Kent State as his coast-to-coast layup finished the Bobcats for good.
But as the dust settles on this season, the picture of this season won't be Gavin Block holding his jersey over his face, Kaminski hunched over at the bench, or even Simmons being unable to get a final shot off. The Bobcats were a team that came back from the proclaimed-dead multiple times. They just couldn't do it one last time.
"Takes a lot for me to take in right now," Kaminski said. "I don't know what my next 24 hours looks like at this point. I'm just focused on getting back to the hotel, getting off my feet and just kind of depressing a little bit, and just letting everything sink in."
And that's why Phillips' emotion came into play.
Kaminski, the team's lone-senior starter, had transferred to Ohio from Michigan State in search of a new direction. He found it in Athens.
"Kenny's journey went through a lot of twists and turns while he was at Ohio University and I've never seen more growth out of a human being as a person," Phillips said. "No, he was never our leading scorer. No, he ... but he changed so dramatically, I thought it was very fitting that he went out the way he did this weekend. He made a lot of noise. I'm extremely proud of him as a human being."
There won't be a banner to hang at The Convo, there won't be nets to cut down and there won't be a team photo taken at center court. But even though the season ended in heartbreak, there was a reason why Phillips had to fight to keep composed.
"If you didn't concede that this group exceeded expectations after what we went through, then you just don't like me or the team," Phillips said. "That's all there is to it."
There was a reason why Simmons, who led all scorers on Friday night, made a proclamation over one year in advance.
"It's tough to lose my seniors, my brothers, but you know, we going to keep our head up, we going to get back in the gym, get back in the weight room, get better and we'll be playing on Saturday next year," he said.
It won't be easy to take now, or in a week, or maybe even when Kaminski and the team's other senior, Drew Crabtree, take their diplomas in late April at the same arena they called home for years.
Ohio's season won't be remembered for its on-court performance. But the team left enough of an impact on its coach that he had to end his statement, and fight with everything he had not to truly show what his team had done.
"I mean, it's over," Simmons said. "It's over now. There's nothing you can do to get it back, so you've got to move on."
