Correction appended.
After having its Tuesday game postponed and its Friday’s game pushed back to Saturday, Ohio basketball was eager to avenge its loss to Kent State a week ago. When they finally got their chance to take the court, the Bobcats made the most of it defeating Ball State 85-77 in The Convo.
Here are The Post’s instant takeaways from Ohio’s bounce back win over Ball State.
Dwight Wilson gets to play fair
Last week was a long one for the Ohio (8-6, 4-4 MAC) big man. In Ohio’s win over Miami and loss to Kent State, Wilson was double teamed for most of the game. Having to deal with two defenders considerably messed with his offensive output. Miami and Kent State held him to eight and nine points respectively, it was the first time he had been held under double digits since the Akron game on Dec.22.
On Saturday, however, Wilson got to play a fair game. For the entire first half, he only had to deal with one Ball State defender, Brachen Hazen and Wilson took advantage. At the half, Willson led all scorers with 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field. Wilson can be a major force offensively for the Bobcats and he’ll continue to learn how to handle the double team. But if you play him with only one big it could be a long night for your defense.
Guard the three
Ohio’s on ball defense wasn’t half bad on Saturday but its perimeter defense was atrocious. The Bobcats led wire-to-wire but couldn’t put the Cardinals away simply because they couldn’t guard the 3-pointer.
The Cardinals finished the game with 12 made 3-pointers and Ohio finished with multiple guys deep in foul trouble. Defensively, Ohio has the athletes it takes to be good at it. But its youth time and again shows up in transitions and half court sets. There’s a reason why the Bobcats are only .500 in MAC play. Basketball is played on two ends of the floor and until Ohio learns how to stay locked in on both ends, it’ll continue to look average.
Mark Sears is a star
Mark Sears broke out in these two teams last meeting on Jan. 2 and unsurprisingly the Cardinals struggled with him again today. Sears led the team with 19 points .
In his freshman season, Sears has shown his value to the Bobcats. He’s way more than Jason Preston’s eventual replacement. He gives this team a spark offensively and does his best guarding some of the shiftiest players in the conference. Alongside Wilson, his emergence has been one of the main highlights to this season.
Might mess around...
It wasn’t the prettiest performance but Jason Preston’s statline was a historic one. Finishing the game with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds , Preston recorded the second triple double of his career and third in school history.
Preston’s historic feat actually came off rebounding a laying in his own miss with 2:49 remaining. It’s no question that Preston is one of the best players to wear the Green and White. But his ability as a scorer, passer and rebounder could give him the opportunity to wear some colors in the pros.
A long week to redemption
The loss to Kent State has sat in Ohio’s mouth longer than expected. The Bobcats were supposed to face Northern Illinois on Tuesday but that game was postponed due to COVID-related issues with the Huskies roster.
Then Ohio was supposed to avenge the Kent State loss on Friday against Ball State but a campus-wide power outage pushed the game to Saturday. It’s been an entire week since Ohio’s been in the win column. They’ll look to build upon Saturday’s win on Tuesday at home against Ball State.
Correction appended: A previous version of this article contained the incorrect score of the game. The article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
