CLEVELAND - With time winding down and the Bobcats trailing by one, Michael Allen dribbled the ball up the court in a situation that had left Ohio fans agonizing so many times before.
After blowing a seven-point lead with six minutes to play, the senior point guard could have been thinking about how his team had blown late leads against Buffalo twice and Bowling Green. But he wasn't.
Instead of dwelling on the past, Allen helped the Bobcats advance to the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 62-55 win yesterday at Quicken Loans Arena in the first round.
In a game situation
you can't focus on the unsuccessful times in the past Allen said. You just keep believing and play hard.
Ohio held a 50-43 lead with 5:59 to play, but Western Michigan stormed back with a 12-4 run in the next three and a half minutes.
But Allen, who missed the deciding free throws in the Buffalo game, would not let his team fall to the same story line.
He drove to the hoop and hit a tough layup to give Ohio a 55-54 lead.
This is a confidence booster for us Allen said. I was just pushing hard.
After Jerome Tillman and DeVaughn Washington split a pair of free throws, Bronco star David Kool misfired on a long 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play. Steven Coleman got the rebound and was fouled.
He then closed out the game with two free throws.
Part of it was us being a little mentally tougher
coach John Groce said of why his team was able to pull out the win down the stretch. I thought our guys grinded it out and played well.
Ohio made 21-of-26 free throws compared to just 8-of-15 for the Broncos.
The Bobcats also held the MAC's leading scorer, Kool, to just 10 points and held the Broncos to 34 percent shooting from the field.
The Broncos' top three scorers were just 10-of-34 from the field and only Kool scored in double digits.
I was proud of the way we competed defensively
Groce said. Jerome (Tillman's) and Mike (Allen's) competitive toughness really wore on our young guys in a positive way.
Groce got a balanced performance offensively. The Bobcats had four players score in double figures.
Tillman posted a game-high 14 points, while Allen, Coleman and Washington all scored 12 points.
The Bobcats will play No.1 seed Bowling Green (18-12, 11-5 MAC) in the second round of the MAC tournament at 7 p.m tomorrow.
2
Sports
Matt O'Donnell
27506a.jpg
