Sports

Ohio Men’s Basketball falls in heartbreaker to rival Miami, RedHawks finish regular season 31-0

By: Grant Kiefer
Posted on: Saturday, March 7, 2026

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The game of the entire college basketball season, somehow, was on the floor of the Convocation Center.

On paper, it was the most consequential of the year. Miami (31-0, 18-0 MAC) wins, they leave all doubt behind and enter the MAC Tournament undefeated. If the RedHawks lose, you enter the tournament with a Quad 3 loss and probably need to win the tournament to get to March Madness. In one of the wildest games to ever be played at the Convocation Center, built in 1968, Miami capped off the undefeated regular season 110-108 in overtime over the Bobcats (15-16, 9-9 MAC).

In a high-scoring first half, Ohio held their own, but couldn’t play an ounce of defense. The Bobcats gave up 54 points and trailed by six at the break. Ohio’s known for starting slow in the second half, but it had a response for every major shot the RedHawks hit.

Ohio trailed by nine with 10 minutes to go in the second half, but Miami imploded on itself. After back-to-back possessions with technical fouls, the Bobcats cut the deficit to just two in a matter of minutes.

Both teams traded blows with clutch shot after clutch shot. Jackson Paveletzke played out of his mind, scoring a career-high 37 points. Javan Simmons also threw in a career-high of 30 points, and his game-tying shot with under a minute to go in regulation sent the Convocation Center into euphoria.

Ohio played good defense and had the shot clock turned off, ready to end the game on one shot. Wide open near the free throw line, Paveletzke had the look you dream of.

Then, he missed.

The potential game-winner didn’t fall, and overtime had to decide the marathon game with 200 combined points.

Ohio and Miami kept pace with each other up until the final minute, when the RedHawks were sent to the free throw line on a questionable foul call on Ajay Sheldon. After only making one free throw to go up 110-108, Ohio had the chance to end the game on one shot.

There’s no question who was shooting it again. It had to be Paveletzke. Without calling a timeout with just over four second to go, Paveletzke missed yet again.

The senior guard was distraught leaving the floor, amidst water bottles being thrown at Miami’s players after they jawed at Ohio’s student section. After already hitting a buzzer beater this season to defeat Eastern Michigan, Paveletzke has felt the highest of highs and lowest of lows. The best game of his career now defined by two missed opportunities to send your rival home with their first loss in nearly a year.

“Keep your head up,” Jeff Boals said he told Paveletzke. “I know it’s a terrible feeling. But we would not have been in that situation if it wasn’t for him. 45 minutes in that environment with with what’s at stake with what we asked him to do. Not too many people can do that.”

Even with the loss, Ohio has momentum on their side. The Bobcats remembered who they are and found some identity with an experienced lineup down the stretch. Paveletzke, Sheldon, Dior Conners, Aidan Hadaway, and Simmons ran the floor for the majority of the second half. While the lineup was small, four out of the five are sniors, and they scored at a pace Ohio hasn’t done all season.

“We wanted to win, obviously, for a lot of different reasons,” Boals said. “Momentum heading into, next week, obviously it’s your rival. But our guys battled. I love their feistiness. I love the grit. I love the competitiveness.”

With the loss, Ohio drops to sixth in the MAC and will face a Kent State squad in the MAC quarterfinal that has found itself in some close games with inferior teams. Tip-off is set for approximately 7 p.m. on March 12 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.