Sports
Campbell Leads Ohio in Rout of Buffalo
By: Mitchell Lyons
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The Ohio Bobcats (16-8, 7-5) found themselves in familiar territory Friday night leading by double digits at the half.
This time, however, they did not make things interesting by letting their opponents back in the game. Rather, they cruised to a 94-75 victory over the Buffalo Bulls (14-11, 7-5).
Just six days earlier, on February 6, against Northern Illinois the Bobcats scored 49 points in the first half and looked to be well on their way to a victory, but Ohio blew that.
Friday was different. The team scored 50 points in the second half. To start the second half, Ohio went on a 19-9 run, getting seven from Antonio Campbell, two 3-balls from Jordan Dartis and four points from Jaaron Simmons. With 15:09 left in the game, Ohio led 63-37.
A three by CJ Massinburg made it 67-44 with 13 minutes to go. Massinburg tried to keep the Bulls in the game with a career-high, 36 points but it was not nearly enough. His three was quickly answered by Dartis, who nailed one of his career-high seven triples. Ohio continued to extend its lead and then Treg Setty made a layup in transition to give Ohio a 30-point lead (82-52) with 9:19 remaining. After that, it was all just a matter of letting the clock run out before Ohio got another win.
The win makes it three straight road wins for the Bobcats and five of their last six overall. This win also puts Ohio in third place in the MAC East, just behind Akron and Kent State.
Ohio got things going early and never slowed down.
Antonio Campbell made a layup after just 1:06 of action, giving Ohio a 4-3 lead. That bucket jumpstarted a 13-2 run for Ohio heading into the under-16 media time out.
Coming out of the media time out, Buffalo went on a 5-0 to make the Ohio lead just five, 15-10 with 14:35 left in the first half. Several possessions later, two long balls by Dartis made it 23-14 with 11:57 remaining. After that, Simmons scored six straight for Ohio, and Dartis scored eight straight after that, making it 39-20 in favor of the ‘Cats. Ohio held its lead above 15 for the remainder of the first half.
Campbell led everyone with 28 points and 15 rebounds. This was his 12 double-double of the season. Dartis finished with 23 points. Simmons chipped in 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Setty had 10.
Ohio looks to extend this hot stretch at home on Tuesday against Eastern Michigan. Tipoff is set for 7p.m.