Sports
Ohio Gets Close Win on the Road
By: Mitchell Lyons
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The Bobcats survived a second half scare and managed to defeat Toledo 81-79 to earn their first road MAC road win.
With nine minutes to go in the game, the Ohio Bobcats were leading the Toledo Rockets, 72-53. It looked like it was going to run away with the game, but that did not happen.
The Rockets came back and were down four with just 6.6 seconds to go when Jaelan Sanford attempted a three. He missed but was fouled by Treg Setty. Stanford made the first two but missed the third. Toledo got the rebound and Jonathan Williams attempted a game-winning three as the horn went off. His shot hit rim and did not fall, giving Ohio the 81-79 win.
Kenny Kaminski were big in the win with 22 points and 15 points, respectively, but Jaaron Simmons was the one that led the way for Ohio against Toledo. The point guard had 12 points and 17 assists Tuesday. Those 17 assists tied former Ohio guard D.J. Cooper’s single-game record.
After Campbell sank a three with nine minutes to go, giving Ohio a 72-53 lead, Ohio scored just two points over the next 5:43. During that time, the Rockets scored 21 points and tied the game at 74. Williams led the way during that run, scoring 11 points in that stretch.
Simmons then found Kenny Kaminski for a 3-pointer to give Ohio a 77-74 lead. However, that lead did not last. Toledo hit a three on its next trip down to retie the game at 77. Simmons drew a foul with 2:30 left in the game and calmly went to the line and made both free throw attempts. Ohio led 79-77.
Toledo had the ball with 0:20 left in the game and a chance to tie, or take the led. The Rockets gave the ball to their best player, Nathan Boothe, but Campbell stole the ball from Boothe and passed it ahead to Setty, who was fouled with 0:18 left in the game. The redshirt senior went to the line and hit both of them to give Ohio a four-point lead.
The first half was much like the second half. Ohio started off scorching hot from the field. At the under-16 time out, Ohio led Toledo 15-4. Ohio made six of their first eight shots and had no plans of slowing down.
With 12:19 left in the half, Simmons hit a layup to give Ohio a 24-9 led. At that point, Ohio had 24 points on just 13 shots. A Setty three extended the Bobcat lead to 32-11 with 8:24 left, but the Rockets did not give up. Their defense tightened, and they started making shots. For the rest of the half, Ohio scored only five points. Meanwhile, Toledo scored 19, and it was a 37-30 Bobcat lead at the half.
Williams and Boothe led the Rockets with 21 points each. Booth grabbed 12 rebounds as well.
The win improves Ohio’s record to 12-7 and 3-4 in MAC play, while Toledo drops to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in MAC play. Ohio’s next game is Friday, at home against Kent State. The two teams met on January 16, in Kent, where Ohio fell 89-82. The game will be on ESPNU, tipoff is set for 9 p.m.