CLEVELAND-The Ohio Bobcats played last night's quarterfinal Mid-American Conference Tournament game against Miami like they had been there before - because they have.
And it didn't take long for the No. 5-seed Ohio men's basketball team (19-10) to draw on the experience it learned from last year's MAC Tournament run.
The Bobcats jumped on top of the No. 4-seed RedHawks (18-10) from the opening tip and didn't let the RedHawks forget they defeated the Bobcats twice earlier this season, cruising past Miami this time with a 73-58 victory.
Ohio blitzed the usually tough Miami defense by shooting 52 percent from the floor and carried over its sharp shooting from its previous two games. The Bobcats lit up the Quicken Loans Arena floor by also hitting 10-of-18 three-pointers.
We were able to play at a tempo that we wanted and we played well by making our shots and our open threes
Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said. This is a continuation of our last two games we have defended well all year and tonight we shot the ball well.
Forward Sonny Troutman found his groove early in the game and was a big reason why the Bobcats were able to get off to such a hot start. Troutman stuffed the stat sheet - something he does often when Ohio plays in the MAC Tournament - by scoring a team-high 15 points, dishing out six assists and nabbing three steals.
It is good to get your first shot to go in so you can get into the flow of the game and then everything starts going your way after that Troutman said. This is a big time tournament so this is what we have to do.
The Bobcats knocked Miami out of the MAC Tournament for the third time in four years. While the 'Cats were able to hold a double-digit lead for the most of the game, the RedHawks attempted to make comebacks and were thwarted multiple times.
It takes a lot of energy to come back from a big deficit
guard Mychal Green said. We knew it would wear them out so we wanted to come right back at them and push it back up.
Miami was able to cut the lead to five, six and eight points throughout the contest, but each time Ohio would answer. However, the RedHawks would never be able to get the score any closer than eight in the second half as Ohio relentlessly responded to the Miami runs.
We came in here with the attitude that we were the champs
Green said. A lot of people wrote us off so we wanted to come out and be aggressive and show how we did it last year.
For the Bobcats' effort, they now face the No. 1 seed, Kent State Golden Flashes at 7 tonight in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. The Bobcats will get a third shot at Kent, another MAC team that has beat Ohio twice this season, and this time the winner will advance to the MAC Championship game.
Tonight's game will be televised on Fox Sports Net Ohio with the MAC Tournament's championship game being televised Sunday on ESPN2.
To read more about men's basketball, visit www.thepost.ohiou.edu.
17
Archives
Nick Miller
20060310299midsize.jpg
Ohio's Antonio Chatman (11) contributed to the Bobcats' 73-58 victory over Monty St. Clair and the Miami RedHawks in the Mid-American Conference men's tournament quarterfinal last night in Cleveland. Ohio has won its last six MAC tournament games.
