Sonny Troutman had a first half to forget yesterday when he struggled to get anything going, as Ohio stumbled against Ball State.
With the Bobcats getting beaten on the boards and missing their share of outside shots, Troutman did what he could to create momentum but was scoreless in the first half. His low shot percentage, represented how few shots were falling for the team as the 'Cats fell 69-57 in Muncie, Ind.
It wasn't anything they (Ball State) were doing in particular
it was just us Troutman said. We couldn't get in the flow and we were missing our shots.
The Cardinals (7-13, 3-4 Mid-American Conference) beat the Bobcats 10-1 on offensive rebounds in the opening half and both teams were plagued with turnovers. Neither team shot better than 39 percent from the field as Ohio trialed by six heading into halftime.
The Bobcats' shooting was worse in the second half and their defense allowed the Cardinals to shoot 61 percent from the floor. Though Ohio cut the deficit to a one possession game five times in the half, it couldn't take the lead. Ball State answered each time and stretched its lead.
We couldn't get any defensive stops
Troutman said. That is what kept us from pulling even or ahead for the rest of the game.
Troutman wound up with eight points on 2-of-12 shooting, six assists and four steals; the rest of the team finished with less than average nights as well. Coach Tim O'Shea said the team's loss was just thatG
O'Shea said. Our rebounding was terrible
we tried to straighten out at halftime
but Ball State out-rebounded us 38-25.
Jerome Tillman was Ohio's glimmer of hope as he paced the Bobcats with 19 points and six rebounds. He made a career-high three 3-pointers, but expressed his disappointment after the game.
We didn't do a lot of things right
our shot selection was iffy and we couldn't get over the hump defensively
Tillman said. They found a lot of ways to track down the loose balls and had all their guys crashing the boards. We needed to tighten up on defense.
The loss was the Bobcats' third straight MAC road loss and it set their record at 13-7 overall and 4-3 in the league. Tillman continued on about the loss, realizing his team is losing valuable ground in the conference standings.
It was our energy for the most part
we didn't stay strong after our start and we got to do better
Tillman said. We can't afford to lose any more games in the league if we want to stay in the race.
The Bobcats will have a chance to rebound from the loss Wednesday when they play host to the Toledo Rockets, who are undefeated in the MAC.
