Ohio (1-4 overall) walked into the Convocation Center on Wednesday looking to bounce back after its two-game road trip. Bethune-Cookman was next up for the Bobcats, who turned in sluggish offensive output that had them playing from behind all night. The poor shooting performance resulted in Ohio’s 76-73 home loss.
The first half by the Bobcats was detrimental to the night as a whole. They started with six turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game, which had them behind by nine early. The Bobcats got the Wildcats in foul trouble throughout the first half, getting to the line with an opportunity to make up some points without the clock running.
Ohio didn’t convert well enough on these attempts, shooting seven of 11 in the first half. Redshirt junior Javan Simmons played physical down low, but once he got to the line, he only made four of seven at the line.
“I think these past couple of games, I've been hesitant, really not being myself or helping my team with my play,” Simmons said. “So, I just wanted to step up but didn't step up enough. I missed a lot of free throws down the stretch. So, I’ll come in tomorrow, shoot 100 to 200 free throws and figure it out.”
Beyond the free-throw line, Ohio struggled from the field altogether. It shot 35.5% from the field in the first half, and after taking an early two-point lead, the Bobcats would fall behind by double digits, and they trailed the remainder of the game as the shots just never fell at the same efficiency as the Wildcats.
“I thought we got ourselves in a big hole in the first half, and when you do that, you give the other team confidence,” Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said.
The poor field goal percentage was bad enough, but on top of that was the most glaring number on the stat sheet. That number was zero, which was the number of three-pointers that Ohio had made on its nine shots beyond the arc. The looks were there for them, but the Bobcats just could not convert, a common theme so far in 2025.
“We've been like it all year,” Boals said. “I think we’re probably now shooting low 20s from three. We got to rep, got to stay confident, got to watch film to see why we miss them. Because when you go two for 17, you know, you leave a lot of points off the board.”
The second half started on a positive note for Ohio, which trimmed the lead to just a point, not even six minutes into the period. Senior guard Jackson Paveletzke was the bright spot of the night, scoring 28 points and leading this run for the Bobcats. Unfortunately for them, Paveletzke is also a primary facilitator and with minimal shots falling from the perimeter, it removes a part of his game and takes points opportunities away.
“When he puts a lot of that pressure on the defense as it collapses them, that's where it hurts us when we're not making those threes, because normally we're getting threes in transition, and we're getting threes off of his paint touches, and we have not capitalized on that in the games that we played, and it's something that we're leaving out there that's still a big part of our offense,” said Boals.
The game went down to the wire, and Ohio’s poor shooting was once again the deciding factor that inevitably led to the loss. The final minutes were hard-fought, and Ohio had good looks that did not fall down the stretch, something they hope to see go differently as the season presses on.
“We've got to end up finding a way down the stretch, said Paveletzke. “We tied it up a couple times late, but we just didn't make the extra play to get a stop to be able to take the lead. We've got to find a way to win. We've got to figure it out.”
