Since the beginning of the season, Ohio has prided itself on playing a tough home non-conference schedule by facing tests that have challenged the Bobcats to have a team-first mentality.
Ohio’s (6-1) most recent hurdle occurred Saturday against Missouri Valley Conference foe Evansville (5-2), but the Bobcats again found success and defeated the Purple Aces 81-59, as four Ohio players finished in double figures.
The victory gave the Bobcats their fourth consecutive win to close out 2013 Ohio Classic with a perfect 4-0 record.
Entering the contest, the Purple Aces had been quite potent offensively, as they averaged 83 points per contest and boasted sophomore guard D.J. Balentine who averaged 27 points each game.
However, Ohio didn’t have much trouble slowing Evansville’s offense, as it never trailed and limited the Purple Aces to 38 percent shooting from the field and 21 percent from beyond the arc.
Perhaps most important was the Bobcats’ ability to limit Balentine to 15 points, though the Purple Aces were led by sophomore center Egidiju Mockevicius with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Coach Jim Christian said Ohio did an effective job of rotating numerous bodies on Balentine and limiting his attempts at the foul line, where he has made 22 percent of his attempts. He finished Saturday three-for-three on free throw attempts,
Ohio senior guard Travis Wilkins, who finished with 10 points, said the Bobcats did an admirable job of shutting down Evansville as a team.
We all need to be ready,” Wilkins said. “I think coach has confidence in all of us that we’re going to work our hardest and we just have to be ready…whether it be the guys starting the game or the guys coming off the bench.”
The Bobcats continued their hot shooting during the second half after a 42-26 halftime lead. Ohio’s bench paced the scoring with 35 points and the Bobcats added 12 second-chance points, resulting from to 13 offensive rebounds.
With ten minutes remaining in the game Ohio made three consecutive shots from downtown to continue its lead, which extended to 31 points with 8:09 remaining.
Despite all the high-points Saturday, the Bobcats received a scare late in the second half when junior forward Maurice Ndour was helped off the floor by trainers and went straight to the locker room and did not return after injuring his ankle.
“(Maurice) had an ankle injury going into the game and I just think he re-sprained his ankle,” Christian said.
Christian also said he did not want to have Ndour in the game at that point, but redshirt senior forward Jon Smith had dislocated his finger and could not sub in. He added that Ndour only practiced one day this week and he should learn the full extent on the injury on Sunday.
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