Men's Basketball: Adedipe energizes Bobcats in victory

From the opening tip, John Groce showed he wanted to change the way his Bobcats were playing.

He started walk-on Adetunji Adedipe in an effort to get his team to play with an increased level of energy.

From the looks of their 89-59 victory over Northern Illinois, Groce's players bought into his message.

We had a little chip on our shoulder

Groce said.

Adedipe was the first to show the increased intensity.

He scored a basket and took a charge. Ohio fans gave Adedipe a standing ovation as he exited the game.

His energy level was tremendous Groce said.

The stat sheet doesn't show what he brought to the game.

It wasn't long before Adedipe's teammates bought into his emotion as well.

Ohio (11-10, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) went on a 20-0 run in the first half to put the game out of reach early.

I'd be lying to you if I saw that coming Groce said of his team's performance. I thought we would play well.

But not that well.

During the run, Ohio used defensive pressure to force turnovers and get easy transition points.

Steven Coleman started the run with a layup with 11:01 in the first half to make the score 14-10.

On Ohio's next possession, point guard Michael Allen made two free throws to push the margin to six. Coleman then got a steal and Kenneth van Kempen made a long jumper in the corner to give Ohio an 18-10 lead with 9:29 remaining.

Then the Bobcats started hitting from beyond the arc.

Coleman made a 3-pointer to make the lead 21-10. Justin Orr buried 3-point field goals on consecutive possessions to move the lead to 17 with 6:26 remaining.

The Huskies, on the other hand, couldn't make a shot and turned the ball over consistently.

And unlike previous games, the Bobcats didn't let up.

After making Northern Illinois pay from the outside, Tillman padded the lead from inside.

With Ohio leading by 17, he muscled up layups on consecutive possessions to give his team a 31-10 lead. On the second layup, he drew a foul and made the free throw to cap the run at 32-10.

Tillman, who finished with 24 points, changed his play, moving his game back inside. After he was 0-for-7 from 3-point range against Ball State, the forward only attempted two 3-pointers.

I just try to make myself big

Tillman said.

He found plenty of shots inside. When he didn't convert, he was fouled. And more times than not, Tillman made those shots as well. He was 9-of-10 on free throws.

The Bobcats finished 35-of-40 from the line. Northern Illinois attempted just 12 free throws.

I thought we were aggressive

Groce said. Sometimes when you're aggressive it leads to opportunities.

For the first time in a few games, Ohio didn't let those opportunities go to waste.