Sports
Technical Fouls and Turnovers Cost ‘Cats in 2nd Half against Bowling Green
By: Blake Baker, Michael Drapcho
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Inconsistent play in a true tale of two halves decided Ohio basketball’s 91-75 loss to Bowling Green Tuesday night.
The Bobcats got off to a red hot start as the went on a 10-2 run and shot perfect from the field until just under four minutes in. They scored 20 points in the first six minutes of play.
Tony Campbell scored four points in the game’s first two minutes, but Coach Phillips took him out of the game after two early fouls. Campbell only played four minutes in the opening half. Jordan Dartis, who hit an easy 3-pointer immediately following the tip, also fell into foul trouble, playing just five first half minutes.
A slew of Bobcats got in on the action to begin the game. In Campbell’s place, Wadley Mompremier scored five points and recorded three monster blocks, even sprinting the length of the floor to lay in a Jaaron Simmons assist on one. Khari Harley played 16 minutes in the first half, scoring eight points, and Mike Laster and James Gollon both played nine key minutes for the ‘Cats to help maintain the lead.
The depth proved to be effective as Ohio led 38-33 heading into the locker rooms, but the scoring did not continue to come as easy after the six-minute mark as the Bobcats went 6-19 from the field.
That inconsistency carried over into the second half, and the Bobcats lost the lead just almost immediately. The Falcons shot 56 percent in the half and opened up a run that got as big as 22-9.
Ohio lost their hold on the game after falling behind, and frequent turnovers, including a nice no-look pass in the lane from Simmons that Campbell couldn’t hang on to, and foul trouble, including four offensive fouls and four technical fouls, served as evidence. The Bobcats even got into a scuffle in front of the Bowling Green bench as Simmons was caught in the middle of a celebration after an and-one 3-pointer from Ismail Ali, which resulted in three technical fouls against the ‘Cats.
“That put the nail in the coffin. That was it,” Saul Phillips said about the scrum and the free throws following. “It’s hard when that, essentially, ends the game for us.”
Ohio did not have a terribly slow night statistically as four players ended with double figures in points. Kenny Kaminski led the Bobcats in scoring with 15 points, nine of which coming on his first three shots. Simmons and Campbell both finished with 13 and Dartis scored 11. The ‘Cats also bested the Falcons in overall field goal percentage, but despite these advantages, inconsistency all game long resulted in a loss.
The conference loss is the second on the year for the ‘Cats (10-5, 1-2), and they hope to get back on track when they travel to Kent State on Saturday at 7 PM.