Ohio never trailed in its 69-42 win against Ball State Wednesday. With the win, the Bobcats moved to 16-6 on the year with a 7-1 Mid-American Conference record. Follow our chronological coverage below, and check back Thursday for a full story.
Pregame
It's been three weeks since Ohio last took the court for game action at The Convo.
Wednesday's game against Ball State at its home Worthen Arena is the Bobcats' fourth-straight road game — the longest such streak in program history.
Ohio (15-6, 6-1 Mid-American Conference) will look to get back on track after falling to Akron Saturday.
Despite having lost six of their past seven games, the Cardinals (18-12, 2-6 MAC), are a worthy opponent.
They boast a pair of fierce forwards that will look to espose Ohio's interior game, which allowed Akron to have its way in the paint Saturday.
Rebounding will be an area of emphasis Wednesday for the Bobcats.
"We didn’t invent block outs over here," Ohio coach Jim Christian said. "You have to want to do it. It has to be commitment, it has to be all five guys and you have to understand the importance of it."
Ball State junior Majok Majok leads the MAC in rebounds per game with 10.4, and averages 12.6 points per game.
"He’s a lot to handle inside — physical, tough, goes for every rebound," Christian said. "He’s obviously a guy that we have to do something with early."
Majok and fellow junior Chris Bond both average better than 50 percent shooting.
Bond led Ball State with 14 points in the teams' last meeting — a four-point Ohio win last January.
Look back at the Bobcats' last game, 14-point loss to Akron, here. Read beat reporter Jim Ryan's game preview here. Follow him and The Post Sports on Twitter for game updates.
First Half
Ohio junior forward T.J. Hall made his first-career start Wednesday, alongside guards D.J. Cooper, a senior, Walter Offutt, a redshirt senior, and Nick Kellogg, a junior, and senior forward Reggie Keely.
The Bobcats started the game with a pair of buckets before Ball State could get on the board. Keely and Hall traded layups within the first two minutes of play.
Kellogg then knocked down a three, which was followed by a three-point play from Hall, to give the Bobcats a 10-3 lead heading into the first media timeout.
Senior forward Ivo Baltic and junior guard Travis Wilkins checked in for the first time at that point.
The Bobcats came out of the timeout with 32 seconds on the shot clock, but it took no more than 10 for Wilkins to feed Offutt for Ohio's second three-pointer of the outing.
He hit his second three of the game less than a minute later, putting Ohio ahead 16-3 with 14:45 to play in the first half.
Juniors Ricardo Johnson, a guard, and Jon Smith, a forward, made their first appearances soon thereafter.
Sophomore guard Stevie Taylor did the same at the next stoppage.
Ball State's string of empty possessions continued through the early portion of the first half, as they converted only two field goals in the first 8:30 of play.
The Bobcats upped their lead to 20-6 inside the 10-minute mark on a pair of free throws from Keely.
Ohio's defensive pressure took the Cardinals by surprise early on, as they were careless and rushed with the basketball, resulting in nine turnovers in 10 minutes of play.
The Cardinals cashed in on their 12th attempt of the evening, as freshman forward Bo Calhoun slammed home a two-hand dunk with eight minutes to play in the half.
Senior gurard Jauwan Scaife hit a three-pointer soon thereafter for the Cardinals' first in seven attempts.
Offutt countered with his third of the game, though, on Ohio's ensuing possession.
Hall continued to lead the Bobcats offensively in the latter half of the opening stanza, as he upped his point total to 10 on a three-pointer and layups on back-to-back possessions inside the half's final four minutes.
Ball State committed its 15th turnover on its last possession of the first half, allowing Ohio 18 seconds to try to score one last basket before the break.
Offutt wasn't able to hit a three with time winding down and a hand in his face, though, and the score remained at a 20-point margin in Ohio's favor heading into halftime.
Halftime: Ohio 34, Ball State 14
Ohio had perhaps its best first half of the season, as it kept Ball State to only 25 percent shooting and 14 points.
Hall led the way for Ohio with 10 first half points, while Offutt had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting.
Scaife was the Cardinals' most impressive, as he finished the half with six points.
Ohio had nine steals and 12 assists in the opening half, while Ball State committed 15 assists, from which the Bobcats scored 19 points.
The Bobcats' assist tally equaled that of their total from Saturday's loss to Akron.
Second Half
Although Hall had 10 first half points, he picked up his fourth foul within a minute of action in the second half and was replaced by Baltic.
The second half was not even two minutes old by the time Ohio upped its lead to 26 — breaking the 40-point plateau.
The Cardinals were able to muster a four-point burst, but still remained behind by 22 with 16:30 remaining in the contest.
After another Ball State stop, freshman guard Marcus Posley knocked down a three from the wing to bring the score within 19 with 15:25 remaining in the game.
The Cardinals were on a seven-point run at that juncture.
Ohio broke the run with a free throw from Keely and an offensive putback from Johnson.
The Bobcats' lead was 43-21 with 14 minutes to play, and doubled up on the Cardinals within an additional two minutes of play.
Baltic then hit a lengthy two — his first long jumper in two games — with 10:51 to play.
Possibly the prettiest play of the game was a sequence where Taylor grabbed a defensive rebound, ran the length of the floor and dished cross-court to Kellogg, who was waiting in the corner, for three.
Ohio led 53-26 with nine minutes left.
Hall fouled out less than a minute later. He finished the game with 10 points — all scored in the first half.
The Bobcats kept their opponent at well more than an arm's length through the latter portion of the second half, and coasted through the final minutes.
Final: Ohio 69, Ball State 42
Ohio never trailed in its blow out win of Ball State Wednesday. It shot 44 percent from the field — well below its season average — but held the Cardinals to only 26.5 percent shooting.
The Bobcats did trail in the rebound department, though, and permitted the Cardinals 16 offensive grabs.
It was the final matchup of a four-game road streak for the Bobcats, of which they won three.
Statistics
Offutt: 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, four steals, three assists
Hall: 10 points, 2 assists
Keely: Nine points, seven rebounds
Baltic: Eight points, eight rebounds
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Scaife: 18 points
Kamieniecki: Six points, nine rebounds
Reactions
"We moved the ball well tonight. I thought we came out and we established our defensive energy well. We got turnovers and got going on the break a little bit. We hit some shots, which is always good on the road, and were able to build up a lead." — Offutt
"I thought we were clued in. In the half court guys were communicating, we contested every shot, we were going for every rebound. When we’re good, we play with a lot of energy."
"I thought we competed tonight, we really did. I thought with the exception of a couple free throw block outs, that was the difference." — Christian, on Ohio's rebounding
Twitter Notes
If only one opposing player scores more than six points, a team will probably be successful...
Christian said he saw the necessary effort in the rebounding department...
Five players contributed to Ohio's 19-assist total...
Hall played only nine minutes...
Up Next
Ohio (16-6, 7-1 MAC) will take to its home court Saturday against Bowling Green. The Falcons (8-13, 3-5 MAC) made the trip Northern Illinois' campus Wednesday, and are winless on the road in conference play.
