Playing shorthanded, the Bobcats went with what they had - and it worked.
With only seven scholarship players and two walk-ons active, the Bobcats found a way to win, beating Northern Illinois 99-84 last night.
Junior DeVaughn Washington missed his second game after being suspended for violating team rules. The Bobcats played without freshman Jay Kinney as well, as he was suspended by the Mid-American Conference after being ejected in Saturday's game against Buffalo.
The remaining players had to pick up the slack to win - and they did. All five starters scored in double figures, and they all exceeded their season averages in points.
Under some difficult circumstances and some adversity
(the team) really adhered to our no excuses; we got a game plan coach John Groce said. I gotta give our guys a lot of credit.
Junior walk-on Adetunji Adedipe and redshirt junior Asown Sayles saw more minutes than usual with Ohio's (11-9, 2-4 MAC) shortened bench.
We were able to get some quality minutes from Sayles and Adedipe and (David) McKinley and (Ivo) Baltic Groce said. I was really pleased with our bench.
Freshman D.J. Cooper dropped a career-high 29 points as he played in his home state of Illinois for the first time as a Bobcat. Cooper, a Chicago native, played in front of his family as he and Northern Illinois junior Xavier Silas went back-and-forth all night.
Silas topped Cooper with 31 points, but Cooper's teammates made the difference, as the Bobcat defense held the Huskies (8-10, 4-2 MAC) to just 41 percent shooting from the field.
We played as a team Cooper said. Everybody moved the ball
hit open shots. We rebounded the basketball
shared it well.
The Huskies stayed close for the early parts of the second half, but Ohio outhustled them down the stretch. A 3-pointer by junior Armon Bassett gave the Bobcats a 66-63 lead with 9:31 remaining..
They kind of gave up
Cooper said. They took some ill-advised shots and didn't get the rebounds like they did in the first half and we just kept boxing out and doing the little things.
Silas scored the Huskies' first 15 points, but Cooper answered by tallying Ohio's first eight, and the Bobcats used five made 3-pointers to take a 17-15 lead. The junior ended with 19 in the half, but Cooper matched him with 15 of his own.
Besides Silas, the Bobcats clamped down The Huskies' offense. But Northern Illinois used nine second-chance points to stay within range.
A three-point play following an offensive rebound by Adedipe gave Ohio a four-point lead, and Ohio went into the break with a 40-38 advantage.
The Bobcats committed a season-low six turnovers and won on the road for the first time in MAC play.
(The win) continues to build our confidence in what we're doing
Groce said. I feel like we're improving.
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Sports
Vince Nairn
