Ohio coach Bob Boldon is a soft spoken man, but when his team isn’t playing up to its potential, he’s not afraid to raise his voice.
“He cussed us out in the game,” junior shooting guard Amani Burke said. “He just basically told us what we really have to do. He just straight up told us.”
Boldon’s strong words were in response to Ohio trailing nonconference foe Cleveland State at halftime, the first time the Bobcats trailed at the half this season. After the “pep talk,“ they dominated the Vikings en route to a 72-54 win at The Convo on Saturday afternoon.
On paper, the Ohio (6-0) should have throttled Cleveland State (3-5). Even though Ohio lost last year in Cleveland, 71-64, the Vikings entered with a first year head coach, and Ohio had the entire week to prepare for them.
“I didn’t think we had a particularly good week of practice,” Boldon said. “This was our first week off and I don’t think we handled that very well.”
A bad week of practice showed itself early as the Bobcats struggled. Ohio couldn’t hit a basket in the first half. The offense was sloppy and the effort was lackadaisical at best.
As Boldon grew frustrated on the sideline, he decided to shake up the lineup at times just to prove a point to his players.
“I needed kids to run our offensive correctly or get a rebound, which we were doing neither,” Boldon said.
The Bobcats’ pitiful first half, which saw them shoot 3-of-13 from 3-point range, left them with a 31-30 deficit. It was clear that Boldon would have to find a way to reach through his team at halftime or its unbeaten record would be no more.
Boldon said what he needed and the players got the message.
“When we got cussed out in the locker room that kind of gave us some more fight,” sophomore point guard Cece Hooks said.
Ohio came out sharp for the second half. Burke and Dominique Doseck hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spearhead an 8-0 run. The Bobcats were able to keep Cleveland State out of the paint and owned a slim four-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
“Something clicked in the third quarter for us,” Burke said. “We just came out with intensity and energy.”
Burke led all scorers with 17 points, but it was her backcourt mate that finally took over the game.
Only up by four, Ohio still needed a spark to put Cleveland State away. Hooks stepped up.
She dominated on both ends of the court scoring eight points in the final minutes. She finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Hooks’ scoring run was infectious as the Bobcats outscored Cleveland State 27-13 to secure the win.
The win gives Ohio its best start since 2016. The Bobcats hope to continue their streak when they put their unblemished record on the line against Purdue on Wednesday. The nonconference game will be one of Ohio’s toughest of the year, and Boldon isn’t optimistic about how it may turn out if his team plays the way it did on Saturday.
“If we think we’re going to play that way on Wednesday then we’re going to get destroyed,” Boldon said.
