Call him Ice, call him the Stormin’ Mormon or just call him Travis.
On Saturday, when Ohio needed a boost after trailing by as much as 18, senior guard Travis Wilkins shot the Bobcats back into the game and helped Ohio avoid its third home loss in Mid-American Conference play, defeating rival Miami 82-75.
The Snow College transfer was on fire from behind the arc, hitting six of his eight attempts from deep and scored a career-high 23 points.
“He’s played well for about two straight months,” coach Jim Christian said. “He does everything he’s asked to do every day. He comes in and he shoots every day. He gets up more shots, (Wilkins and Nick Kellogg) get up more shots than anybody on the team."
“The game eventually rewards you and eventually you have your moment.”
Kellogg displayed consistency when other Ohio players struggled, scoring a career-high 27 points and keeping the Bobcats afloat in an offensively stagnant first half with 13 points in the opening stanza.
It was by no means an easy victory for the Bobcats, which brought their struggles from Wednesday’s loss against Western Michigan to The Convo for the first 20 minutes.
Ohio’s defense consistently lost RedHawk players on the perimeter in the first half, allowing Miami to shoot 70 percent (7 of 10) from three-point range.
Freshman guard Jaryd Eustace hit four shots from behind the arc to score a career-high 14 points in just the first stanza.
Offensively, the story wasn’t much better, as the early hole pushed Ohio to rush and panic on offense with less than stellar results.
Of the 28 shots the Bobcats took in the first half, 14 of them were from three. Despite shooting eight of 14 from inside the arc, Ohio was insistent on forcing it from deep and found itself in a 47-32 deficit at halftime.
But the second half was another story entirely, as the Bobcats blitzed the RedHawks on both ends of the ball.
The defense closed out on Miami’s sharpshooters, holding them to a 12.5 percent (1 of 8) clip from behind the arc in the second half.
“Our mindset and our energy changed,” Kellogg said. “Once you can string a couple stops together, the crowd starts getting into it and guys are a little more focused and a little more eager and hungry to get stops.”
Stopping the RedHawks on the defensive end allowed Ohio to settle the pace on offense and allow its three point shooters to find open spaces.
A 21-5 run culminated at the 5:58 mark in the second half with a Jon Smith jumper and brought the Bobcats their first lead since the 18:01 mark of the first half.
Wilkins contributed 11 points to that run, but credited his teammates and minutes for allowing him to catch fire.
“I think just the opportunity I had to be out on the floor, just to be in a rhythm,” Wilkins said. “It felt like my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball. I mean, both Nick and Stevie (Taylor) made some incredible passes on the baseline to give me open looks in the corner.”
Asked how he’d celebrate what he said was his best performance since junior college, Wilkins told the media that they’d have to ask his wife.
@c_hoppens
ch203310@ohiou.edu
FAST FACTS
Ohio (17-6, 7-3 MAC) 82
Miami (9-12, 5-5 MAC) 75
-Travis Wilkins scored a career-high 23 points, shooting 6 of 8 from behind the arc
-Nick Kellogg also notched a career-high with 27 points on 10 of 18 shooting
-Ohio outscored Miami 50-28 in the second half
-It was the fourth time in five games Ohio rallied from a double-digit second half deficit to win
