James Gollon entered Ohio’s game Tuesday night with 14:06 remaining in the first half. The Bobcats were down by 14, and any energy that was garnered through The Convo during pregame had been sucked out of the crowd by Western Michigan.
Once he stepped on the floor, his presence was felt.
Gollon’s 13 first-half points were the catalyst behind an early comeback for the Bobcats. But seemingly just as soon as he sent the 6,029 in attendance to a roar, he was back on the bench, possibly for good.
His big half helped Ohio overcome Western Michigan’s attempt at a road win, and the Bobcats won 81-76. But the buzz after the game wasn’t about Gollon’s play, or his spark from the bench, or Ohio’s much-needed win.
It was about life without the fourth-year junior who coach Saul Phillips believes tore his Achilles late in the first half.
“I’m crushed for the kid,” Phillips said. “A, he really had it rolling tonight. And B, he’s gone through so much to put himself out on that court.”
Before his injury, Gollon provided a glimmer of hope in Ohio’s offense, which was held to 52 points in back-to-back games before Tuesday night. Gollon and his best friend on and off the court, Gavin Block, were on fire from 3-point range, combining for five made 3s and 19 points in the first half.
Block has seen Gollon work through injuries before; the two were roommates as underclassmen, and when Gollon redshirted during his second year on campus, Block stuck by him. It is now likely they never play together again.
“He’s the biggest team-first mentality guy that we got,” Block said. “It’s just unfortunate. It sucks.”
For a journeyman like Gollon, he was just happy to be back on the court playing basketball. Now, he’s where he began the season, and a couple seasons before that, too: On the bench.
As a senior leader, Block tries to find the silver lining of what Gollon is going through. Block knows what he’s getting with Gollon on the bench, and he thinks the now-injured Gollon will be a pseudo coach.
But aside from that, losing Gollon creates a problem for Ohio, who is already missing one of its best players, Jordan Dartis. Gollon was finding his groove in Ohio’s offense, and he’s an asset defensively for Saul Phillips.
“There’s just a pit in my stomach for the kid,” Phillips said. “It’s ironic that he was probably playing the best game of his career when it happened.”
Ohio beat Western Michigan by five points in The Convo on Tuesday night.
But nobody wanted to talk about the resurgence of competent offensive play or getting back on track in the Mid-American Conference.
The Bobcats lost a leader and an asset. Now, they must figure out how to replace him.
“We knew that he was done for the night,” Block said of finding out about Gollon’s injury at halftime. “But we didn’t know how severe it was until the start of the second half.”
