On the road against Morgan State, Ohio survived despite playing a sloppy game and squeezed out a road win because of Stevie Taylor’s late game heroics and the opposition’s inability to hit free throws.
The Bobcats (6-2) played an ugly game on the road once again on Saturday and were burned for it, as they lost an untidy contest to Oakland 73-56, which snapped Ohio’s five-game winning streak.
Neither team could find a rhythm early in the game, with Ohio and Oakland (2-7) starting off the game shooting a combined 6-of-26 from the field.
Turning the ball over was an issue for the Bobcats, which generally do a good job hanging onto the ball, averaging only 10.6 per game. Ohio had 10 turnovers just in the first half and 18 in the entire contest.
“We couldn’t convert,” coach Jim Christian said. “We couldn’t make a play on the offensive end of the floor. We couldn’t make a lay-up.”
The Bobcats held serve for much of the first 20 minutes, never falling behind the Grizzlies, with a 25-25 tie at the end of the first half being the only time in which Ohio didn’t hold an advantage.
Ohio stretched its lead to as much as 11 points in the first half, but a 15-6 run by Oakland through the end of the half evened the score at the break.
“In the first half, we got off to some great stops early in the game,” Christian said. “We had opportunity after opportunity and we couldn’t convert, so we kept them in the game. We could’ve put them away earlier.”
In the second half, the Golden Grizzlies continued their hot play and the poor play that plagued the Bobcats throughout the first 20 minutes followed them into the next 20 minutes.
Oakland’s 20-2 run stretched its lead to 49-37, which was the Grizzlies’ first double-digit lead of the evening, with 10:19 to go.
For as much as Ohio struggled to shoot in the first half, it couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket in the second half, shooting 36 percent in the final 20 minutes which led to season-low game shooting percentage of 37 percent by the Bobcats.
“Guys panicked and tried to shoot us back in too quickly,” Christian said. “A lot of guys need to learn a lot of things from this game. So we’ll go back through it and get better.”
Oakland, which shot 1-of-13 from three-point range in the first half, caught fire in the second, shooting 6-of-9 from behind the arc.
Bench contributions, which usually are one of the strengths for Ohio, were minimal against Oakland. Travis Wilkins was the only non-starter to score for the Bobcats, contributing two points.
Kellogg led Ohio with 18 points, while junior forward Maurice Ndour scored 12 and senior forward Jon Smith added 10 points.
@c_hoppens
ch203310@ohiou.edu
