Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball Drops Home Match To St. Bonaventure
By: Michael Drapcho
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Through Ohio’s first four games this season, the Bobcats have yet to put together a complete 40 minutes, and that didn’t change against St. Bonaventure (6-1) on Saturday. The Bobcats dropped their second-straight game and fell to 2-3 with the 80-70 loss to the visiting Bonnies.
After winning the first half 37-36, Ohio sputtered in the second half thanks to questionable shot selection and unnecessary fouls.
“I thought we moved the ball beautifully in the first half, played borderline aesthetically beautiful basketball, effective basketball, efficient basketball,” Ohio head coach Saul Phillips said.
Ohio opened the second half the way it ended the first half with crisp ball movement. The Bobcats got on a brief 5-0 run thanks to a pull-up jumper from Maurice Ndour and a 3-pointer from Bean Willis. St. Bonaventure responded by going on a 5-0 run of its own. The two teams traded punches for several possessions after that.
Jaylen Adams ignited a 7-0 St. Bonaventure run when he dribbled to the free throw line rose up and sank a contested jump shot. Marcus Posley then hit a pull-up 3-pointer and a layup to stretch St. Bonaventure’s lead to 50-44. The Bobcats offense began to sputter during that stretch, as the team missed eight straight shots.
“In the first half we came out and were moving the ball; in the second half, we got stagnant,” Willis said. “It’s hard to give yourself a chance, our team, when you’re not moving the ball.”
Posley and Adams led the way for the Bonnies in the second half. The freshman, Adams, scored 16 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, and Posley poured in 11 of his 20 in the last 20 minutes.
Ohio cut the lead to just three points at 53-50 with 10:26 to play, but that is as close as the game would get in the second half. Adams scored eight straight points, and Posley sank a 3-pointer after a Willis turnover to stretch the St. Bonaventure lead to 64-53.
After draining the pull-up jumper to start the second half, Ndour struggled mightily from the floor. The senior forward missed six of his next eight shots, finishing the game with 16 points on just 4-of-14 shooting.
While Ndour struggled, St. Bonaventure pushed its lead out to 15 points at 73-58 with 4:30 left in the game.
From that point on, Ohio turned up the intensity and began to push the ball more, which allowed the Bobcats to eventually cut the deficit to six points. The Bobcats’ push came too late in the game as St. Bonaventure sealed the game with free throws.
One of the few bright spots for Ohio was the play of sophomore forward Antonio Campbell, who netted his first career double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
With Ohio struggling offensively in its first few possessions, Phillips went to his bench and sent Campbell in for fellow sophomore Wadly Mompremier. Campbell immediately got Ohio on the board with a wide open layup.
“That’s kind of the role I want to play, bringing energy off the bench,” Campbell explained.
Then with 6:50 left in the first half, Campbell went on a run where he scored six straight points for the ‘Cats. First he hit a face-up jump shot. On Ohio’s next time down, he backed his man down and finished a jump hook. Campbell then put back a Maurice Ndour miss on the following possession.
Despite Ohio’s three losses this season, Phillips has reason to be confident in his team. The combined record of the teams Ohio has lost to (FGCU, Belmont, St. Bonaventure) is 20-3.
“I’ll keep teaching. They’ll keep learning. We’ve got some good things to build off of,” Phillips said.
Ohio will look to get back in the win column Saturday when it hosts Alcorn State.