Sports
Ohio finishes sixth in Myrtle Beach Invitational after falling to Texas State
By: Andrew Bowlby
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CONWAY, S.C. (WOUB) – Just 82 hours after Ohio (2-5) opened the 2024 Myrtle Beach Invitational with a loss to Middle Tennessee, the Bobcats closed the tournament with a defeat to Texas State (4-3) 74-65.
Both teams entered Sunday night’s matchup coming off wins Friday. Ohio took down Portland and Texas State beat Princeton.
Ohio’s offense struggled from the hop and had to wait two minutes to finally put points on the board coming from a pair of Elmore James free throws.
For Texas State, contributions from big man Tylan Pope led to an early lead. Pope utilized a size advantage and made his presence felt with 13 points and three rebounds in the first half.
Ohio struggled to contain him throughout the night, and Pope delivered a big performance at a much-needed time.
“Those are the types of performances in that third game in four days that you want, and he did it,” Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said.
At 14:28 of the first half, Ohio subbed in Shereef Mitchell. He had missed the last four games for Ohio dealing with a lower-body injury. Mitchell wasn’t able to do much in the early minutes when he was on court, taking and missing only one shot in his first stint.
James added a three to put Ohio ahead 7-6 early, right before AJ Clayton started to get hot. Midway through the opening half, Clayton knocked down three-consecutive triples and got the offense moving.
Clayton, coming off a invitational record 34 points, finished the night with 18. His tournament was capped with 70 total points, the fifth most recorded in the event’s six-year history.
While Ohio did have some momentum in the first, the pace was controlled by Texas State and its point guard Kaden Gumbs.
“Give Gumbs a lot of credit, [he] runs the show, runs the tempo, sets the tempo,” Boals said. “And I thought they controlled most of the game with what they wanted to do, how they wanted to do it.”
Ohio played at a slower-than-normal pace, and it seemed to impact their consistency on both ends of the floor. The Green and White were held to a season-low 65 points. They also shot 37% (second lowest) from the field and only 29% (lowest) from three.
Despite the slow start and struggles, Ohio was down just four heading into halftime.
The second half started much better, quickly, Ohio knocked down shots and scored nine of the first 15 points. However, the strong beginning was halted when Texas State returned to what they found success with in the first half: post touches.
Returning to Pope in the paint, Texas State was nearly unstoppable down low in. He added 11 points in the second, bringing his game totals to 24 points and 10 rebounds. Pope was also the main contributor to Texas State’s dominant night in the lane.
Texas State totaled 50 paint points while Ohio had just 18. The former also out-rebounded the latter 48-27. With 19 offensive rebounds, when Texas State needed it, they got it.
Ohio continued to push down the stretch but could never get past a four-point deficit. And to make matters worse, late in the second, Mitchell went down re-injuring his right knee.
A problem that has been a consistent theme this season has been finishing games. Ohio was once again unable to do so, and the problems are clear to the team.
“We’re not near where we’re going to be,” Boals said. “We’ve got to get tougher; we’ve got to figure out the stretches where we’re lacking, rebounding has been the Achilles heel, and we’ve got to figure that out.”
Ohio will have the opportunity to right the ship when they finally return home after a five-game road trip. The Bobcats next game will be Saturday against Robert Morris at 2 p.m.