Ohio beat Miami 58-54 to secure a share of its first Mid-American Conference regular season championship since the 1993-94 season Saturday at The Convo. Follow our chronological coverage below.
Pregame
Saturday's game against Miami will be an emotional one for Ohio's senior class, as it is its last at The Convo.
The matchup holds more than just emotional significance, though, as if the Bobcats win they will claim a share of the Mid-American Conference regular season championship.
After losing to Akron for the second time last Wednesday, Ohio (22-8, 13-2 MAC) was under the impression it was essentially playing for tournament seeding. The Bobcats locked up a No. 2 seed in their next game, which was on the road against Bowling Green.
Since Akron's trip to The Convo, it has lost two of its three games — its only win being against Miami (8-20, 3-12) Tuesday.
The RedHawks have lost eight straight games. The Bobcats won the teams' first meeting by 12 points.
An Ohio win would lock up its first regular season conference crown since the 1993-94 season — whether a share or otherwise.
Ohio's five seniors will be honored with a ceremony before tip-off. Redshirt junior guard Nick Goff will also be recognized, as it is up in the air if he will return to the team next season.
Look back at the Bobcats' last game, a three-point win against Buffalo, here. Read beat reporter Jim Ryan's game preview here. Follow him and The Post Sports on Twitter for game updates.
First Half
Ohio coach Jim Christian went with an all-senior starting lineup of guards Walter Offutt, D.J. Cooper and David McKinley and forwards Reggie Keely and Ivo Baltic.
Ohio junior guard Nick Kellogg checked in for McKinley less than a minute into the game.
Thirty seconds later Ohio got on the scoreboard with a three from the wing from Cooper, which was followed by a layup from Keely.
The Bobcats increased their lead to five points on a Baltic jumper just outside the 16-minute mark.
Miami had scored just once to that point.
Ohio junior guard Ricardo Johnson, redshirt junior forward Jon Smith and junior forward T.J. Hall checked in at the first media timeout.
The score stayed unchanged until the 13:41 mark in the first half, when Miami junior guard Josh Sewell converted a pair of free throws.
Ohio committed three straight turnovers during that span, and alloed Miami to climb back within one.
The Bobcats got back on the board, though, with a pair of free throws from Offutt with 13 minutes remaining.
Ohio sophomore guard Stevie Taylor, who checked in at about that time, moved the Bobcats' point total to double digits with a three-pointer with 11:45 left in the first half.
Ohio junior guard Travis Wilkins had also made his first appearance by that point.
He was fouled while attempting a three with 10:36 remaining in the first half, and he hit two of three of his shots.
Ohio led 14-9 at that point.
Miami junior forward Jon Harris hit a three-pointer with 8:48 remaining in the half, and redshirt junior forward Will Felder converted a free throw attempts to tie the score with 8:14 remaining in the first half.
Cooper gave the Bobcats back the lead with seven minutes left in the half with a three-pointer with the shot clock in single digits.
After a Miami two, Cooper regained the lead for Ohio with a runner in the lane.
Felder fired back with a three, though, to give the RedHawks the lead with five minutes remaining in the half.
The RedHawks hung on to the lead through the three minute mark, as the Bobcats were in the midst of a run where they missed six straight field goal attempts at that point.
The Bobcats did not convert a field goal in the final 5:25 of the half.
Halftime: Miami 28, Ohio 22
Miami ended the first half on a 9-2 run to give it a six-point lead at the break. Neither team had an impressive first half shooting performance, as the Bobcats shot 19 percent and the RedHawks hit 38 percent of their shots.
Cooper was the only Ohio player to convert more than a single field goal, and he was 3-for-10 from the floor.
Felder led the RedHawks with 14 points, while Cooper's 10 paced the Bobcats.
Harris was the only other player that had more than three points in the first half, as he had seven on 3-of-4 shooting.
Ohio led Miami in rebounding by a 26-21 margin and had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half.
Second Half
Miami scored on its first possession of the second half to give it an eight-point lead — its largest of the game.
Cooper got Ohio on the board for the first time in tha half about a minute later with a steal-and-layup combination.
Keely converted a three-point play on Ohio's following trip down the floor, as he was fouled while going up for a transition layup and made both the shot and his attempt from the charity stripe.
Miami scored on its next possession, however, to keep its lead at seven at the first media timeout.
The RedHawks upped their lead to 12 at the 14:03 mark.
A pair of Cooper free throws closed the deficit to 10 points with 13:26 left in the game.
Taylor brought it within nine two minutes later with a three-pointer, and forced a shot clock violation from Miami on its ensuing trip down the floor.
Smith then poured in four-straight points to bring The Convo crowd to its feet and cut Miami's lead to five.
With 8:50 on the clock, Offutt drove the baseline and swished a layup through the net to bring the game within three.
Smith brought the Bobcats within two with a free throw at the eight minute mark, and then Taylor tied it up with a steal and layup on his next touch.
A Cooper three after another steal gave the Bobcats the lead.
Harris brought Miami within one with a jumper just outside the 5:30 mark.
But a Baltic three soon thereafter upped Ohio's lead to four.
After a Miami two, Smith kept it there with a layup.
Harris converted a layup, though, to cut Ohio's lead to two with 3:07 to play.
Hall collected a Kellogg three-point miss for a layup to increase Ohio's lead to four with just more than a minute to play.
Felder then hit a pair of free throws to narrow Ohio's lead to two once again, however, with 57 seconds remaining.
Kellogg converted a long jumper to bump the Bobcats' lead back to four with 25 seconds remaining.
Smith came up with a block for the Bobcats on Miami's second-to-last drive to the basket, and Kellogg forced a held ball on the RedHawks' final charge to give the Bobcats the win.
Final: Ohio 58, Miami 54
The Bobcats climbed from a six-point halftime deficit to sweep their season series with Miami and secure a share of the MAC regular season championship — its first since the 1993-94 season.
Statistics
Cooper: 17 points, five rebounds, two assists
Smith: Nine points, 10 rebounds
Taylor: Eight points, three steals
Keely: Eight points
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Felder: 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, five rebounds
Harris: 13 points, nine rebounds
Reactions
"I thought it kind of drained us. I though we came out a little bit flat and obviously we didn’t play very well at all on the offensive end of the floor." — Christian on Ohio's senior day celebration
"We showed courage, I thought, at the last 12 minutes of the game, playing a bunch of combinations just to try to find one that would give us the right energy." — Christian on his personnel changes late in the game
"I just wanted to send the seniors out on a good note, and I wanted the championship so bad I was going to do whatever I needed to do just for a win." — Taylor on his second half play
"I was really disappointed with what I did in the first half. I didn’t finish a lot of things I should have and I touched a lot of balls, but I really wasn’t doing anything." — Smith on his role on Ohio's second half comeback
"It was hard to not look past Miami. I mean, it’s here now so we just have to have a strong week of preparation and bring it." — Cooper on preparing for the MAC Tournament
Twitter Notes
Ohio's senior day celebration was nice and well-deserved...
Cutting down the nets in The Convo was a first in quite some time...
The Bobcats' comeback was made possible by capitalizing on Miami turnovers...
Ohio's comeback can be a teaching point, Christian said...
Up Next
Ohio will have the better part of a week to prepare for the MAC Tournament, in which it is a No. 2 seed. The Bobcats will play next on Friday at 9 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. View the tournament bracket here.
