Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball Loses to Florida State, Goes 1-2 at Paradise Jam
By: Mitchell Lyons
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Ohio Bobcat men’s basketball set its sights on a fifth place finish in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but the Florida State Seminoles bested the Bobcats 90-81.
Coming into this tournament, Ohio head coach Saul Phillips said his team would be facing the toughest competition of the season. If Phillips is correct in his assessment, the ‘Cats might just have a very nice season.
The game did not start off well for Ohio, as the ‘Noles got out to a 15-2 led in less than five minutes.
Ohio once again turned to freshman Jordan Dartis to give it a spark, and he delivered. Dartis scored 11 of Ohio’s next 17 points to make the score 23-19 in favor of Florida Staten, but the Seminoles wouldn’t settle for a close score. They went on a 13-7 run and led 39-26. Under a minute to go in the first half, freshman Gavin Block was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. He hit all three free throws and at the break Ohio trailed 45-38.
The Bobcats came out on fire in the second half. Junior Kenny Kaminski hit three 3-pointers to cut the Seminoles’ lead to just three at 52-49. Shortly after, a dunk by Boris Bojanovsky gave Florida State a 58-51 lead, but Dartis and the ‘Cats would not go away. A layup by Jaaron Simmons, four Bobcat free throws and a Dartis three gave Ohio its first lead of the game at 62-58.
But that lead would not last long. Malik Beasley and Dwayne Bacon scored the next seven points for Florida State and it did not give up that lead. Ohio tried to regain that lead, but Bacon and Bojanovsky were too much for Ohio, and Florida State hit all its free throws down the stretch to win by nine.
Even though the ‘Cats went 1-2 in the tournament they came away with a lot of positives.
Simmons set a Paradise Jam assist record with 28, and the Bobcats missed the total point record by only five points.
Next up, Ohio puts its 4-2 record on the line on Dec. 3 at home against Marshall at 7 p.m.