Sports
Ohio’s Threes Too Much For Sam Houston State
By: Mike Rizzo
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Kenny Kaminski got the ball in the corner behind the three line, shot a contested jumper and hit nothing but net. He then looked at the student section behind him and started bouncing up and down in excitement.
This was a familiar scene for the Bobcats in the Convo tonight.
Ohio defeated Sam Houston State 96-75 and shot 55 percent from the 3-point line and the Michigan State transfer was a huge part of this.
“I had a talk with him and I am going to take all credit for his performance this season,” Ohio coach Saul Phillips jokingly said. “I always like to think the act of finishing the possession with the made shot should be the easiest thing. And Kenny was born to play that roll and he has. It looks good going off his hand and it looked good tonight.”
Kaminski made all five of his 3-point attempts and finished the game with 17 points. He was also responsible for making three 3-pointers out of the eight that Ohio made in the first nine minutes of the game. The Bobcats finished the game with 15 made 3-pointers.
The Bobcats never looked back after this hot start and did not lose the lead for the rest of the game. Kaminski is always deadly from behind the three-point line and it showed tonight by him barely even hitting the rim tonight.
“He told me today in shoot-around that today he is going to go 6-8 then 7-8 and then after that I’m not miss,” Ohio point guard Jaaron Simmons said in the post-game press conference. “I swear to god he said that.”
Even though Kaminski was hotter than a skillet and the Bobcats hit a barrage of 3-pointers tonight, Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Tony Campbell played like he could win this award in back to back years.
He shot 50 percent from the field and looked like a man among boys. He also made a contested 3-pointer in the corner that put Ohio up 28 points and forced Sam Houston State to call a timeout.
“No. I wanted to one dribble drive to the basket and dunk on someone,” Campbell said when asked if he wanted to shoot it. “But he cut that off then I picked my dribble up and said ‘oh man.’ (I) Gave him a pump fake, he fell for it a little bit and then gave him another one and let it fly.”
Tonight was a night to remember for Campbell, Kaminski and the entire Bobcat squad in this win. But this one sided game got gritty during the second half. Simmons’ shoe fell off while he was in the back court and a Sam Houston guard hit the shoe out of his hands.
“Yeah my shoe fell off, I tried to pick it up and he tried knocking it out of my hand and I wasn’t able to get back on offense and I did not like that,” Simmons said. “But I guess that what you are supposed to do really so it was alright.”
Next up for Ohio is Georgia Tech at Georgia Tech. Even though the Bobcats are 2-0, Campbell and Simmons called this game against a power conference ACC team a must win game. Tip off is at 8 p.m. Friday night and the Bobcats are a team with NCAA Tournament hopes. This is a good game for them to see just where they are at with those aspirations.