Ohio (4-6 overall) went into the locker room at halftime with a slim 34-32 advantage over St. Bonaventure (10-2 overall). The scoring was spread throughout the Bobcats' roster, but someone seemed to be oddly quiet on the stat sheet, and that was no other than their leading scorer for the season, senior guard Jackson Paveletzke, who had just four points on three shot attempts.
The Bonnies went on a quick run to start the second half, which prompted a quick timeout from Ohio head coach Jeff Boals, but once the Bobcats came back to the floor, the ball found Paveletzke’s hands, and it felt like all he needed was to see one fall in that second half for his offensive explosion to begin.
This confidence helped Paveletzke shake off some early struggles as Ohio started to find a groove behind his strong second half. It started with just one three-point basket, but then blossomed into a scoring run that Ohio desperately needed as St. Bonaventure began to claw back into the game.
“I kind of had a slow start, but I just remained confident through all the ups and downs throughout the game, and didn’t let the turnovers and the missed calls affect my play on the offensive end,” Paveletzke said.
The Bobcats were in a fight all evening, and it came down to the final seconds, including some big free throws for both sides. Paveletzke was huge down the stretch, hitting turnaround jumpers, contested layups and even a couple of big three pointers when the St. Bonaventure defenders gave him too much space behind the arc.
After a missed free throw kept the game tied with under 10 seconds to play, Boals let the Bobcats play it out, and Paveletzke had a shot to win that was no good; however, that did not diminish his confidence as he stayed hot to start overtime.
The biggest moments in these close games always happen at the free-throw line, and Paveletzke went five for five at the charity stripe. The star guard clearly wanted the ball in his hand down the stretch, and the Bonnies' defense couldn’t get it away from him. He hit a couple of jumpers in the paint and a floater through contact to push Ohio’s lead out to 84-79 as the win was in hand.
“They could have easily folded through adversity, but they stayed together and found a way at the end, got the stops when we needed and hit some big free throws,“ Boals said. “Mr. Paveletzke here obviously put us on his shoulders and hit some big shots in the second half, and in overtime."
Paveletzke stepped to the line for a couple of closing free throws and hit them like the arena was as calm as the practice gym. He had 25 free throws for the night, 21 from the second half, and solidified an 88-83 victory for Ohio.
The Bobcats continue to keep working and are focusing on the small things on their road back from a slow start to the 2025 season. However, the consistency of Paveletzke on the offensive end has been there, win or lose, and it was a big part of Saturday night’s upset win and a potential tone setter for upcoming Mid-American Conference play.
“I just think our attitude and we're learning from our mistakes,“ Paveletzke said on the team’s growth. "We're learning from what we did wrong in the film room, and we're really applying that. Obviously, we weren't doing that in the beginning of the season, but we're taking more attention to detail in that and realizing we need to do the little things in order to win the game.”
