Jerome Tillman has officially reached his comfort zone.
Unfortunately for the sophomore forward, his latest big-time effort came in a place where his team hasn't felt comfortable in more than a decade.
Tillman grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and led all scorers with 20 points Sunday at Kent State, but it wouldn't be enough for the Bobcats, who lost for the ninth time in their last 10 visits to Kent State in a 67-65 overtime loss.
I felt pretty good out there
said Tillman, who collected his team-high seventh double-double of the season in the losing effort. I'm just feeling more comfortable out there and am just trying to play my game.
After a freshman season in which he overcame mononucleosis and a death in the family, Tillman has emerged as a force at the post alongside Leon Williams. He leads the team with 15.3 points per game and is second, behind Williams, with 8.6 rebounds per contest.
It's becoming almost the norm for him to get a double-double coach Tim O'Shea said. He is becoming a special player and had another great game today.
Tillman paced a Bobcat offense Sunday that dressed nine players and used only seven through the majority of the game. All of Ohio's starters, aside from guard Whitney Davis who finished with 8 points, scored in double figures and each played more than 30 minutes in a tightly fought game that saw 13 ties and 17 lead changes.
Ohio normally runs an eight-man rotation but backup point guard Antonio Chatman did not travel with the team because of personal reasons.
Playing in a place where they hadn't won since 2001, the Bobcats (11-5, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) trailed by two with 1:20 remaining when Williams tipped in a Davis miss to send the game into overtime.
Both squads had numerous chances to end the game in regulation, but sloppy ball-handling and poor free-throw shooting helped extend the game by five minutes.
The Bobcats were dealt a costly blow late in the overtime period when Williams ' who was plagued by foul trouble all game ' finally fouled out with 1:49 remaining, forcing O'Shea to put an inexperienced Kenneth van Kempen into the fray.
We went into the game with only nine players point guard Bubba Walther said, and if Leon isn't in foul trouble
we would have won this game.
Walther helped keep the Bobcats' hope alive when he hit his fourth 3-pointer of the day with 37 seconds left in overtime to tie the score at 65.
Kent State point guard Omni Smith, who struggled all day from the field, would have the final answer, however. Smith drove down the lane and hit a running one-hander with 4.7 seconds remaining to give the Golden Flashes (9-7, 2-1 MAC) a two-point advantage and the game.
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Sophomore forward Jerome Tillman surpassed his career high in rebounds Sunday at Kent State when he grabbed 17 boards in a losing effort.
Tillman sets career high in rebounds, continues to impress coach, teammates
