The Bobcats' big three made sure they did not let their third opportunity at claiming a first-round bye slip away yesterday against Buffalo.
The trio of Leon Williams, Jerome Tillman and Bubba Walther combined to score 72 points, and Ohio topped the Bulls 94-80 to nab the fourth seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, ensuring that they will not have to play four games in four days if they reach the tournament final.
It was about time we sealed it
Walther said. It's been like a week and a half that we heard about it and talked about getting a bye. Today we came out on senior day and got it done.
Williams finished with 30 points in his final game in The Convo and added seven rebounds to move past Gary Trent for second on the Ohio all-time list.
With Buffalo often choosing not to put multiple defenders on the Bobcats big man, the senior had his way inside, shooting 10-of-11 from the field.
They were trying to play me one on one so I was happy about that Williams said.
While Williams made just about everything he put up, Tillman continued his recent surge in production, totaling a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Coach Tim O'Shea, who often calls Tillman the barometer for his team's success, said he hopes to see Tillman continue his high level of play into next weekend.
He's practiced like that the past couple of days so it's great to see
O'Shea said. You saw it on the court today
so hopefully this is a sign of what we're going to see in Cleveland.
Walther also had a game to remember in his last outing at home, totaling 17 points, including five 3-pointers. The guard also added seven assists in an emotional day for the Bobcats senior.
I looked at my mom and she started crying
and I told her not to because that would make me cry
Walther said. It was pretty fun
the fans were out today and we got a win.
After a recent stretch of games where the Bobcats struggled mightily from the field, the team enjoyed its highest output since November 17 against Cornelland scored well above their MAC average of 66.4 points per game.
As a team, Ohio shot above 50 percent for just the seventh time this season at 62 percent, and also hit 50 percent from 3-point range.
O'Shea said that Ohio was fortunate to be shooting as well as they were, considering that the Bulls did not have any trouble scoring points.
It's funny the way Buffalo played today. From our standpoint
it was good we were playing well offensively
he said.
We had a few games where we had open looks and were not able to put the ball in the basket.
The Bobcats led by as much as 21 points in the second half, though a pesky Buffalo squad did not relent, holding Ohio to eight points over the final seven minutes of play.
With the game no longer in doubt in the final minutes, O'Shea played the team's third senior, guard Andrew Vroman, who scored the first points of his career on two free throws with one second remaining.
He just had surgery two days ago on his nose so I was nervous he would get hit in the face
Walther said. He's been there the whole year for us
