The Ohio men's basketball team got some big help from its frontcourt that powered the Bobcats to an 83-66 victory over Marist on Saturday for the team's season and home opener.
The Bobcats controlled the paint with forward Leon Williams dominant post play and his frontcourt counterparts Jerome Tillman and Kenneth van Kempen. Williams started the season with a double-double, netting 16 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.
Ohio coach Tim O'Shea recognized his big man's contributions and the impact Williams will have on his team this season.
If we are going to have the type of season that we hope to have
Leon has to lead the way O'Shea said. He has the potential to have that kind of effect every night and the difference this year is we are pairing him up with a Jerome Tillman and a Kenneth van Kempen.
Having Williams on the court with other forces in the paint allowed the 'Cats inside players to rack up 42 points and 30 rebounds. Freshman van Kempen opened his career at Ohio with a surprising 10 points off the bench.
For his first game as a true freshman he showed why I was so excited when we got him
O'Shea said. I was really impressed with his composure and his defense. His scoring is a bonus for us.
After van Kempen made his fourth field goal of the game, chants of KVK boomed from the crowd. Williams was first to credit van Kempen's performance to the team's inside success.
It feels good and takes stress off me to know Kenneth can come in and give me and 'Rome a break
Williams said. We wanted to pound it inside and get (Marist) in early foul trouble. After that everything opened up.
Aiding in opening up the game was Tillman, who also had a double-double ' the first of his career ' with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Guard Whitney Davis was the third Ohio player with 16 points and supplied the Bobcats with a five-point burst in the first half that was part of an eight-point run for Ohio. Davis said the forwards' explosive offense got the guards going as well.
It allowed us to put more pressure on them offensively because if the guards aren't rolling we can feed Leon
Jerome and Ken and get us on the right track
Davis said. It opened it all up for everyone because we knew we could get some good shots.
The Bobcats ended the game with five players in double figures, the last being forward Sonny Troutman, who added four steals to go along with his 14 points.
Ohio managed to shoot 55.6 percent from the field as they controlled the game against the highly regarded mid-major team of Marist. The Bobcats' defense kept the Red Foxes to shooting just 33.9 percent from the floor.
We feel like we have a lot of offensive firepower
and we showed that tonight
Davis said. We got guys who can take the ball to the basket
people that can knock down some shots and a lot of big men that can make moves too.
