Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball cruises past Morehead State behind Paveletzke’s season-high 23 points
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Jackson Paveletzke came to Ohio for moments just like this. When everything around him gave way to his instincts on the court. In his first eight games for Ohio, he put up some modest numbers, but nothing that jumped off the page. Paveletzke led Ohio (4-5) with 23 points and eight rebounds, both of which are season highs. Ohio was able to get a big push to start the second half to put away Morehead State (3-6), 88-76.
The game started off with the Bobcats blitzing the Eagles out of the gate, grabbing an 11-3 lead before the Eagles were forced to call a timeout to regroup. During the spurt by the Bobcats, AJ Clayton scored five points and added a block to announce his presence defensively. The hot start to the half was something that Clayton emphasized to the team before stepping onto the floor.
“AJ said before we go out, ‘Let’s make them call a timeout,’ and any time (we) can do that, it sets the tone,” Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said.
After the timeout, Morehead State was able to compose itself and trim the deficit to just two points at the 12:50 mark of the first half. A bevy of second-chance points, turnovers, and fouls allowed for Morehead State to get back into the game.
The two teams would regress to the mean, trading stops as the score stood at 17-14 for over three minutes of the game with the defenses settling in. Elmore James IV would go on a personal 5-0 spurt to push Ohio’s advantage to six points more than halfway through the first half. After another three by AJ Brown minutes later, Ohio watched the lead balloon up to nine with 6:42 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles would not let the Bobcats take complete control, staying in the game until the end of the first half, ending it on a buzzer-beater by Jalen Breazeale to make the score 39-33 with the teams headed to the break.
In the first half, Ohio was leading despite its greatest weapon, the three-point shot, betraying it. During the first half, Ohio shot 3/13 from beyond the arc, instead having to rely on some paint touches when it might have otherwise looked to shoot a three. The inside game was where Paveletzke especially found his footing. His midrange and inside game played perfectly into the game plan that Boals provided after watching a litany of threes fall off the rim.
“The threes weren’t falling early, but one thing (Boals) always says is to stay confident,” James said. “We kept believing in each other, moving the ball around. It’s always easier to get good looks like that.”
Coming out of the break, Ohio looked determined to put Morehead State in the dust. A 9-2 run early in the second half almost exactly mirrored the run early in the first half, both of which forced Morehead State to call a timeout.
After the timeout, Ohio did not stop separating itself from its opponent. Paveletzke and James keyed an even greater offensive push. Between the two of them, they scored 17 of the 22 points over the first seven minutes of the second half. During that stretch, Ohio watched as its two best offensive players during the game began to hit their jumpers in addition to getting into the paint.
“We all kept moving the more,” James said. “We know we have a lot of weapons on this team and we know how dangerous we can be as long as we continue to play as one unit. I feel like that showed today.”
Ohio would get the rest of its supporting cast to continue to increase the lead. Ajay Sheldon made a layup to get the lead up to 63-42, Bobcats. From there, the Bobcats could not stop scoring.
That being said, Morehead State did not allow the deficit to get much larger than 20 points. Paveletzke and Ohio continued to shine offensively, staying in rhythm for the majority of the second half.
With a little under six minutes to play, Paveletzke made a play that encapsulated what he brings to the table for Ohio, stripping a defender and delivering a perfect alley-oop to Hadaway, who flushed it. The jam sent shock waves through The Convo, all but ending any hopes for Morehead State of coming back in this game. Paveletzke’s career day was topped off by that pass to Hadaway, ending the game as the leader in scoring and rebounding.
The final five minutes of the game watched Morehead State inch a little bit closer, trimming the deficit to 14 with two minutes remaining. However, those efforts were ultimately futile as Ohio closed it out.
During the game, reigning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week Kenny White Jr., Morehead State’s leading scorer, made a layup early in the first half. Those points were the last time he saw the ball go through the net until late in the second half. Boals expressed that was an emphasis for his team entering the game.
“He’s a load. He’s a really good player. We kind of game plan for him. He’s just tough inside and out. After he got those two fouls early, he sat for a while. In the second half, we said, ‘We have to pay attention to him.’”
The defensive intensity was present for Ohio, adding to the offensive firepower that has been evident throughout the season. However, it was Paveletzke, the transfer who has experienced success at every turn during his college career, that led Ohio to this win. As this version of Paveletzke reared its head against Morehead State, paired with the skillsets of the supporting cast, Ohio can truly cement itself as a team to beat.