After falling on the road against Oakland last weekend, Ohio responded with an emphatic 72-47 victory against Alabama A&M on Saturday to remain a perfect 6-0 at home.
The Bobcats (7-2) had little trouble suppressing the Bulldogs (3-5), as Ohio led the majority of the contest and rotated several bodies off the bench, which provided the bulk of the scoring with 40 points. In comparison, Ohio’s bench scored just two points against Oakland.
“(Our bench is) the strength of our team,” Christian said. “I don’t go by one game, I’m obviously concerned about what we did at Oakland but its more of a nine game stretch that I’ve looked at things and our bench has been decent.”
Junior guard Stevie Taylor and senior guard Nick Kellogg combined for an uncharacteristic four points, though Kellogg scored his 1,000th career point. However, three Bobcats finished the game in double figures and ten players entered the scoring column for Ohio in the game.
What started out as a close contest quickly shifted in favor of Ohio late in the first half, as the Bobcats went on a 14-0 run, which started by a three pointer by redshirt junior guard Javarez Willis.
Willis provided a spark off the bench for the Bobcats, scoring eight points in the first half, before finishing with 12 points. Saturday was the second consecutive home game that he has finished with double figures.
“It’s been a bumpy road,” Willis said. “I’m just trying to pick it up every game and my teammates are doing a great job in helping me to do so...all these recent games have been put behind me and I just focus on the next game ahead.”
The Bobcats’ defense was stifling and forced 19 Bulldog turnovers. Ohio also limited Alabama A&M to 28 percent shooting from the field and 32 percent from behind the arc.
“The one thing that’s really been impressive to me is our overall field goal percentage defense had just been phenomenal, Christian said. “We held them to 27 percent shooting contested every shot, which was a huge key coming into the game because they were shooting close to 39 percent as a team from three. I just thought we did a great job all over the floor defensively.”
The Bobcats were also superior on the glass as they out rebounded the Bulldogs 38-32.
“I think we’ve been locked in (on defense),” Willis said. “I think it carried over from practice, coach (Christian) talk all the time about taking things away from people and I think we do a great job. I think we’ve followed the plan and going out and doing exactly what he’s asked us to do.”
The Bobcats started the second half with a statement when junior forward Maurice Ndour dunked the ball, which set the tone for the half, as Ohio eventually extended its lead to 25 points with five minutes remaining.
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