Jason Preston walked toward the Ohio bench with roughly two minutes left in the game, but he looked as if he could’ve played the remaining two.
The sophomore point guard had been making plays all throughout the afternoon for the Bobcats, dishing out no-look passes, claiming rebounds against opponents bigger than him and finding ways to finesse the ball into the hoop.
He and fellow sophomore Ben Vander Plas filled in the stat sheet as Ohio defeated Tennessee Tech 81-54 on Sunday afternoon in The Convo.
From the get-go, the two sophomores were clearly going to be heavily relied on. Redshirt senior Jordan Dartis wasn’t dressed for the game after he suffered a knee injury in Wednesday’s game. Highly-touted freshman Ben Roderick underwent surgery last week to fix a broken finger.
And then, during the first half of the game, freshman Nolan Foster left the game with a lower body injury.
With just nine healthy players for the Bobcats, Preston and Vander Plas scored the team’s first 11 points of the game all while finding ways to get others involved.
Vander Plas, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, was able to space out the floor and help Ohio in transition from both sides of the ball.
Preston (21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) commanded the traffic on the floor and facilitated the ball.
“We’ve got to be there for our guys who are down and try and help them any way we can,“ Vander Plas said. “The guys that we’ve got, we’ve got to come in every day and keep working hard, step up and fill in some shoes.”
The guys that they do have are five other scholarship players and two walk-ons. Freshman Mason McMurray filled in for Dartis in the starting lineup. Marvin Price and Nate Springs each logged double digit minutes.
Walk-ons Michael Brown Jr. and John Tenerowicz came in for relief for whoever needed it. In what seemed like a game where Ohio didn’t have enough, it still managed to win its fourth consecutive game.
“I think it’s an every day mentality,“ coach Jeff Boals said in regard toward finding ways to win. “We tell our guys all the time ‘don’t ever get tired preparing to win’ it’s hard to win.”
Boals mentioned just how the Bobcats (7-3) have already been “battle tested.” Whether it because of various lead changes, playing premiere opponents or the ever-growing injury concern, the Bobcats in the early goings of the season have had their fair share of adverse moments before conference play.
It doesn’t get any easier for Ohio, either. It has nine days before it welcomes perennial powerhouse program Purdue to The Convo in its fourth game of a six-game home stretch.
In the next nine days, Ohio will have its fair share of rest and recovery. And it’ll enjoy Sunday’s win as much as it’s enjoyed the three prior to it. As long as Preston and Vander Plas can stay healthy, and the Bobcats can get some players back ahead of their matchup with the Boilermakers, they should be OK.
