Sports
Campbell’s Career-High Leads Ohio Past Kent State
By: Michael Drapcho, Mitchell Lyons
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Antonio Campbell scored 21 points on January 16 against Kent State. On Friday, Campbell scored 22 points in the second half alone to guide Ohio (13-7, 4-4) past the first place Kent State Golden Flashes (15-6, 6-2) 72-61.
With 16:11 left in the second half Khaliq Spicer went up for awide open dunk, that would have tied the game at 36, but he missed it. Jordan Dartis got the rebound for Ohio and found Jaaron Simmons who missed an elbow jumper. Campbell was there to grab the rebound for Ohio and put it back in despite a foul. Campbell made the ensuing free throw and Ohio led 39-34. The and-one was part of a stretch where Campbell scored 11 of 16 points for Ohio to begin the second half.
That missed dunk turned the tide in favor of Ohio. After that sequence, the Bobcats went on a 16-4 run and extended their lead to 52-40. The last four points of the run came courtesy of a dunk by Wadly Mompremier and a Simmons coast-to-coast layup, which forced Kent State to call a timeout with 10:35 left in the game.
Coming out the time out, Kent State scored six straight points to make it a 52-46 Ohio lead. The two teams traded baskets until the 6:23 mark when redshirt senior Treg Setty took over. Setty scored seven straight points. The final two coming after his own steal when Dartis found him in transition for a layup. That basket made it a 10-point (61-51) Ohio lead with 4:31 left to go in the game.
The two teams traded free throws until Galal Caner drained a 3-pointer with 3:32 left in the game to make it a 63-55 deficit for Kent State. Ohio responded by going to Campbell on its next three possessions. It resulted in four points for Ohio and with 1:35 left in the game, Ohio led 68-59.
With 35 seconds left in the game, Campbell removed all doubt by hitting a 30-foot three-pointer, capping off his night and giving him a career-high 28 points.
“I figured he would make it,” head coach Saul Phillips said. “It was a fitting way for him to end the game. He did everything else for us might as well let him have that too. He has so much potential and we intend to help him get there.”
The first half had a lot less scoring than the second half. The two teams combined for just 53 points. Campbell had only six, but Kaminski picked up the scoring for Ohio. He had 10-points, including two threes. A key moment in the game came in the first half when Kent State guard Xavier Pollard got hurt with 11:58 left. Pollard hurt his ankle and did not return to the game.
After the game Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff said he was unsure about the seriousness of the injury but Pollard would have an X-Ray tomorrow.
Ohio is in the middle of a three game home stand against the top teams in the MAC. Up next is the Akron Zips on Tuesday.
“These wins felt good,” Kaminski said. “One thing I learned at Michigan State was that wins carry over. That’s how teams make runs at the end of the year”