After scoring its lowest first half of the season, Ohio wasted no time putting their stamp on the contest in the second stanza.
The Bobcats (13-4, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) scored 23 points in the first half before shooting a blistering 54 percent from the field in the second half to defeat the Huskies (7-9, 1-3) for their second consecutive win.
The Bobcats outscored Northern Illinois in the second half and has now won seven straight contests against the Huskies and has won 10 of their last 11 Mid-American Conference games, which is the best stretch in program history.
Senior guard Nick Kellogg led all scorers with 16 points, while junior forward Maurice Ndour chipped in 10 points.
Kellogg, who was six of eight from the field, was equally impressive behind the arc, as he converted four of five triples. As a team, the Bobcats finished the game 10-19 from the three-point line.
Defensively, the Bobcats were impressive, as they held the Huskies to 29 percent shooting from the floor and 22 percent from behind the arc.
The Huskies’ calling card this season has been their rebounding, but they were outrebounded by the Bobcats 33-30. Entering Saturday’s contest, the Huskies were tops in the conference in rebounding. Northern Illinois outrebounded the Bobcats 17-13 in the first half of the contest.
Ohio coach Jim Christian said he challenged his team at halftime to be more aggressive on the glass in the second half.
“Northern Illinois’ a phenomenal offensive rebounding team,” Christian said. “I just thought they were kind of pushing us around a little bit on the glass and challenged our kids. In the second half we got back to the backboard and offensively we just got into a really good rhythm.”
The Huskies, forced the Bobcats to play at their pace for the majority of the first half, during which they outrebounded the Bobcats 17-13 and went into halftime with a one point lead despite shooting 8 of 24 from the field.
The Bobcats quickly came out of the gate in the second half blazing, as they quickly scored seven points spurred by two layups by junior guard Stevie Taylor and a three pointer from senior forward T.J. Hall in the opening two minutes. Ohio went on a 23-12 scoring run to extend its lead to ten points at 47-37 with 12:18 remaining in the game.
Bobcats redshirt junior guard Javarez Willis who had nine points in the game, all but sealed the victory for Ohio after he converted on a three pointer with 6:23 left in the contest which put the Bobcats up 59-37. He hit two three pointers in the half to help Ohio increased its lead to 21 points with 42 seconds left in the game.
“Coach (Christian) tell me let the game come to me,” Willis said. “So that’s exactly what I did in the second half, got in, first half, second half whatever case may be. I just got in and I let the game come to me and I played off my teammates, I felt like we shared the basketball.”
Although Christian was pleased with the offensive and defensive effort shown by the Bobcats, he said was important not to get too wrapped up in one game.
“We’ve just got to take it one game at a time,” Christian said. “It’s a very difficult league and you can see around the league no score surprises you… you’ve got to guard got to rebound and take advantage of your opportunities and we were lucky to get one tonight.”
