Sports
Jaylin Hunter reaches 1,000 career points in dominant 71-52 win
By: Andrew Bowlby
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — After having a week off, Ohio (2-1) returned to the Convocation Center for a Saturday matinee matchup with Detroit Mercy (0-4). Ohio was led by senior Jaylin Hunter to a 71-52 win.
Ohio got off to a quick start knocking down back-to-back threes from junior AJ Clayton. The early shots were only the beginning of a big afternoon for Clayton who finished with 18 points and four made three-points to lead the Bobcats.
“I thought we were very active defensively. Those numbers are really good, and I think the biggest thing is we defended without fouling,” head coach Jeff Boals said.
Ohio gave up just 22 points in the opening half and contained Jayden Stones who scored 15 points in last year’s matchup that saw the Titans take down the Bobcats 88-74.
“Jayden Stones, a really good player. He really hurt us last year” Boals said. “So, we wanted to try to make it as difficult as possible for him to be a high-volume shooter and a low volume scorer.”
From start to finish Ohio guard Jaylin Hunter had his fingers all over Saturday’s matchup. Coming into the day, Hunter was just 12 points shy of the 1000 career point mark.
“One of my friends actually texted me right before we were about to start warming up saying good luck hope you get a thousand today,” Hunter said. “I was like really? I didn’t even know I was that close to it.”
In addition to reaching the scoring milestone, Hunter also made a notable impact with 10 rebounds and six of the team’s 17 assists.
“We knew coming in that the way they guarded you; the extra pass was going to be big. I thought we did a really good job that we had 17 assists on 25 baskets.” Boals said.
The Bobcats will head south to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship next week.