Following yet another loss on Thursday, Ohio’s trip back to Athens probably felt longer than the six-hour bus ride, as its six-game losing streak continues.
Despite a close game at the half, Buffalo took off in the second as it trampled over Ohio 55-43 on Thursday.
“That was a terrible basketball game,” coach Bob Boldon said. “This is one of the worst basketball games I’ve ever been a part of. The defensive numbers were OK, but that’s because both teams were so bad offensively.”
The Bobcats allowed 37 points in the second half and have allowed their opponent to outscore them in the final frame in every contest of this six-game slide.
The game got off to a slow start, though Ohio was on top 20-18 at halftime. At one point, Buffalo was scoreless for seven consecutive minutes of play.
But coming out of the break, the Bulls broke loose and went on a 14-1 run. Ohio slowly came back and tied the game at 40 points with four minutes left, but the Bobcats were then stagnant and the Bulls closed the game on a 12-0 run.
“We still have our defensive numbers, (but) offensively we need to be more efficient,” Boldon said. “Even if we would’ve won this game, we’d still have things we need to work on.”
Ohio finished the contest shooting 25 percent from the floor, but was 15.8 percent (3 of 19) from behind the arc. Buffalo didn’t shoot much better, with a field goal percentage of 35.5 percent on the afternoon.
Statistically, freshman guard Quiera Lampkins and sophomore Kiyanna Black led the Bobcats in scoring, with a dozen points each. Sophomore Lexie Baldwin led the way in rebounds, grabbing seven.
Mackenzie Loesing, a sophomore guard, led Buffalo with 18 points and had five rebounds.
The Bulls dominated on the glass, and had two players rack up double-digits in rebounds. Freshman forward Alexus Malone had 16 boards, and junior Kristen Sharkey brought in 11 rebounds.
Ohio will return to action against Eastern Michigan on Sunday at 2 p.m., which will be televised by the Time Warner Cable Sports Network.
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