Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball remains unbeaten through first four MAC games, takes down Ball State
By: Andrew Bowlby
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – When your leading scoring struggles, that can lead to pretty bad things for a basketball team. When AJ Clayton, Ohio’s top point-getter, finished the opening half against Ball State with three points, it may have been hard to believe the Bobcats were leading by 10.
But that was the exact set of circumstances Ohio (10-6, 4-0 MAC) was in leading Ball State (8-8, 2-2 MAC) at halftime. The first half carried over to the second in a sixth-straight win for the Bobcats 86-71.
Clayton, coming off a game where he scored 31 points and made nine threes, was limited in the early stages again the Cardinals. Aside from scoring the first point for Ohio on a free throw, Clayton was jammed up by the Cardinals defense. So, the Bobcats needed points from elsewhere.
“I knew I was going to get my shots up,” Aidan Hadaway said on Ball State’s defensive plan.
With the way Ball State was matching up against Clayton, Hadaway had the court opened for him. His energy from the start culminated in a triple, plus made a pair of free throws. That energy is nothing out of the ordinary when Ohio plays in the Convo.
There was a slight damper in the opening minutes with Mickey Pearson Jr knocking down consistent shots that kept Ball State close with the Bobcats throughout the first half. And throughout the opening 20 minutes there was consistent action without stoppages. The teams ran up and down the floor trading baskets, and while Ohio was ahead, there wasn’t any true separation.
The Bobcats defense in the first was particularly strong in limiting Cardinal’s center Payton Sparks. The 6-foot-10-inch player is taller than every player on the Ohio roster, but that didn’t seem to matter as he shut down. Sparks did not score in the first half and missed both shots he took.
“Every time we play a good big like that, we work on our post double teams, and I feel like our zone ups were really good,” Hadaway said on the Ohio defensive strategy on Sparks.
Finally, with 3:39 remaining in the first half, Clayton tipped in a second chance shot for his first field goal of the night. The bucket was part of a strong stretch for Ohio that saw it take a 39-28 lead.
Pearson made one final three in the half for good measure but was matched with a buzzer-beating play by AJ Brown. With an acrobatic layup slicing through the defense, he finished the half putting Ohio ahead 45-35.
As for the start of the second half, it was quite similar to the first. Both teams traded scores, and it once again included a triple by Hadaway. After a few minutes, Ball State began some of their best minutes of the game. Sparks began to make players, and that propelled the Cardinals to pull back within reach.
The lead was trimmed down to seven at 60-53 with 11:40 to play in the second half.
“I thought we did a good job of staying with what was working,” head coach Jeff Boals said. “Continue to share the basketball, I thought Paveletzke was phenomenal getting into the paint all night long.”
Jackson Paveletzke played a considerable role all night delivering points, assists and grabbing rebounds. Particularly late, he closed the game with a handful of finishes in the paint to drown out any hopes of a comeback.
“He puts so much pressure on the defense where he’s either going to finish through the contact on a guard, or draw a secondary defender and be able to kick it out to an open shooter,” Boals said.
Paveletzke finished with 15 points (13 in the second half), five rebounds and six assists. He along with Shereef Mitchell were the two guards that made things difficult for Ball State, mainly in the latter half.
Mitchell, who has still been pushing back to full health from an early-season injury, played another strong game totaling 15 points and scoring in double figures for the second-straight game.
He continues to embrace a sixth-man role that maybe wasn’t a part of the plan preseason.
“It just brings a different element to our team. I feel like when I come in, we don’t take a drop,” Mitchell said about his newly defined job. “It helps out with the starting five a lot, and I’m willing to take that six-man role.”
All-in-all, Ohio earned a fourth-straight MAC win to begin the conference campaign, but things get no easier. The Bobcats are off to Akron on Friday to face the Zips who are also a perfect 4-0 throughout conference play.