Ohio dominated Buffalo on the road with 50 points in the paint, as redshirt junior Javan Simmons and senior guard Jackson Paveletzke had double-doubles in the 95-83 win on Saturday afternoon.
Ohio looked to get out of its funk against Buffalo on Saturday afternoon, having lost four of its last five games. These two programs had already met once in the 2025-2026 season, and the Bobcats came out on top and were looking to sweep heading into the second half of the conference schedule.
Buffalo caught the Bobcats defense sleeping on the opening tip as Ryan Sabol hit a 3-pointer, but that did not faze Ohio. The Bobcats responded with a quick 7-0 run, powered by senior forward Aidan Hadaway, who hit a 3-pointer of his own and forced a pair of misses on the defensive end to help Ohio take an early lead.
Ohio kept it rolling as Hadaway found senior guard Ajay Sheldon for a 3-pointer. A couple of possessions later, Hadaway kept passing and found freshman guard JJ Kelly for a layup to give Ohio a 12-8 advantage.
Out of the media timeout, the Bulls responded with more physicality, fighting for extra possessions and forcing Ohio turnovers, which led to a 6-0 run and grabbed the 14-12 lead.
The Bobcats were looking for some production from the second unit and got some on a hard drive and finished at the rim by redshirt freshman forward Kiir Kuany for an and-one as Ohio recaptured the lead. Ohio then added to it with a pair of layups from Simmons.
The first half was foul-filled, and both teams were taking advantage at the free-throw line. Ohio took five, and Buffalo took six in the first 12 minutes. Ohio looked to find another route to easily score and went back to the paint, getting a bucket from both Simmons and Hadaway as the Bobcats held a 27-21 edge.
Despite a quiet first half scoring, Paveletzke continued to provide on offense with six assists as the Bulls tried to keep him off the scoreboard. The Bobcats continued to attack through Paveletzke, who found Simmons, who was on a 4-0 run of his own as Ohio’s lead went to double digits, at 33-22.
Both squads struggled from beyond the arc in the first half, with neither group shooting better than 30%, with only three minutes to play in the period, but Daniel Freitag scored for the Bulls, plus a foul that cut the lead to 35-28 and gave him 10 points.
Ohio fought back with a 9-2 run, led by another 3-pointer by Sheldon and four points from Simmons, who had 16 first-half points. The half ended with a pair of free throws from Kelly as the Bobcats went into the locker room with a 46-31 lead.
The offenses began to heat up for both teams as they went back and forth out of the break, only stopping due to the first media timeout of the second half. The timeout did not slow either team down, as Buffalo cut the lead to 10 on a 3-pointer, but the Bobcats immediately responded with a layup from redshirt senior Jalen Breath.
Buffalo guard Angelo Brizzi caught fire of his own and had consecutive and-ones to put pressure on Ohio as the lead was cut all the way down to six, at 58-52. Ohio kept fighting, subbing back in Hadaway, who had four fouls, and he made the risky decision immediately pay off with a layup down low. He would miss the free-throw that followed, but Simmons grabbed the offensive rebound and put it in.
The lead remained around 10 for the next few minutes as the Bobcats took advantage of the Bulls playing with a smaller lineup and finding looks in the paint, including another dunk by Hadaway and a huge layup with his left hand by Simmons.
Ohio continued to find the open man; this time it was Kelly in the corner with a 3-pointer on a pass from Paveletzke to give him nine assists and the Bobcats a 77-64 lead over the Bulls.
Buffalo started to look down low for its points, and forward Tim Oboh delivered, scoring six straight for the Bulls as they looked to close the gap, now down nine, 77-68. Freitag then got involved again, making his ninth and 10th free throws of the game, cutting the lead to just seven with just under five minutes to play.
Buffalo kept the pressure on Ohio as the teams exchanged 3-pointers, but it was Paveletzke again with sharp vision to find a cutting Hadaway under the basket for a layup before Paveletzke would make one of his own to push the lead to 84-73, and with only two minutes to play, the Bobcats looked to shut the door.
The front court was the driving factor for the winning effort as Hadaway had 19 points and 8 rebounds, and Simmons had a career high 24 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double.
These two had success, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Paveletzke, who went to the line for the game-sealing free throws that would give him 16 points for the afternoon and a double-double of his own in Ohio’s 95-83 win over Buffalo.
