Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball earns first win of the season over Illinois State
By: Andrew Bowlby
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Ohio Men’s Basketball (1-1) responded to a Monday night loss with a bounce-back performance beating Illinois State (0-1) 72-68 Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
“We can’t let Monday’s loss affect Thursday,” head coach Jeff Boals.
Ohio did make one lineup change going into the game as Dior Conners drew into the starting lineup for Elijah Elliot who was injured against Arkansas State.
The Bobcats got off to a quick start and went right inside to Javan Simmons who scored over ISU’s best player Chase Walker. That was followed up by five-straight stops for the defense.
Ohio’s defensive effort as a whole was significantly improved from Monday’s. Aidan Hadaway made a midrange jumper to give Ohio an 8-2 lead at the first media timeout. After the first four minutes Illinois State was 0/7 from the field and the only points on the board were from a pair of free throws.
As the first half went along, Boals rotated in a number into the game including JJ Kelly, Jesse Burris and Kiir Kuany.
All three made plays to help Ohio win and the most eye-popping came from Kuany. He slammed home a dunk to score his first career points, and then a few possessions later he finished an alley-oop pass from Conners giving the Bobcats a nine-point lead.
Ohio controlled the majority of the first half until the Redbirds began to get things going. Johnny Kinziger knocked in a three to cut the deficit to 26-25. A few plays later, Kinziger made another shot to tie the game at 29.
The Bobcats finished the first half with a handful of missed free throws and the game was tied at 31.
Ohio did a great job of limiting Walker to just two points and a single rebound.
“He’s an elite passer and he’s a load down low. I thought the fact that we were able to guard him one-on-one really helped us with the spacing defensively,” Boals said.
The Bobcats had déjà vu starting the second half as ISU jumped out to a 10-2 run and an eight-point lead just over three minutes into the second half.
“We knew they were going to go on a run, it was only a matter of time,” forward Javan Simmons said.
Ohio’s offense got off to a slow start, but it was sparked by the play of the frontcourt. Jalen Breath scored nine-straight points for the Bobcats and a number of his buckets were assisted by Jackson Paveletzke who finished with six in the game.
Breath’s lift in the second half helped him reach 14 points on the night.
Ohio went on a 13-0 run in the middle of the second half and ultimately took the lead back. With a combination of offensive scores and defensive strength the Bobcats slowly pulled away, all happening without a made three-pointer.
It wasn’t until the 7:42 mark of the second half when Conners made a three right in front of the Ohio bench to give the Bobcats a 58-53 lead.
Illinois State continued to push, but Ohio had the extra punch and held on to earn their first win on the 2025-26 season.
“We need this momentum. We need this juice going into next week,” Breath said.
Ohio will have a busy week facing both Saint Mary’s and No. 11 Louisville next week on the road.