Ohio (10-7 overall, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) won its fifth straight after rallying from a double-digit deficit in the first half to beat Buffalo 91-80. Ohio battled for 40 minutes, led by a 27-point performance from senior forward Aidan Hadaway.
Ohio welcomed Buffalo into The Convo on Saturday afternoon and got to work quickly. Hadaway went straight to the paint for a couple of quick layups. The Bulls responded with a couple of buckets of their own. Ohio senior forward Javan Simmons got into the paint himself and finished through some physical contact for an and-one. Simmons's effort gave the Bobcats an early 7-4 advantage.
“We knew that Javan and I were going to have to get to our spots, knock shots down, draw fouls, and get them in foul trouble, Hadaway said. “I just don’t think they could hold us tonight.”
The teams went back and forth through the early minutes, but the driving force for the Bobcats was Hadaway. He made the best of a couple of misses, tipping in a couple of shots right around the rim to make the lead 15-12. Buffalo responded with an 8-2 run to grab the lead. A pair of three-point baskets was pivotal to this run, as the Bulls started to stretch the Ohio defense.
The Bobcats and Bulls kept fighting, with neither team being able to put together a consistent run of baskets. Buffalo finally found back-to-back baskets with a three-pointer and an emphatic putback dunk to quiet the fans in Athens. Buffalo’s 9-2 run put them up 31-24 with eight minutes to play in the first half.
Out of the timeout, Buffalo went on a 5-2 run to pull away by double digits. The first half clock dwindled, and the Bobcats began to chip away slowly, taking the game into the half, trailing the Bulls by only three, 47-44.
The Bulls started the half with a dunk, but that did not fluster the Bobcats, who turned it around and scored seven straight to take a slim two-point edge, including five points from senior guard Jackson Paveletzke.
“I just try and take what they give me,” Paveletzke said. “For me, it’s really about trying to stay aggressive and look for my shots.”
Buffalo tried to slow the Bobcats, but they kept pushing the pace and put together a 9-2 run powered by two three-pointers from Hadaway. Ohio kept rolling behind another seven straight points from freshman guard JJ Kelly, who finished his solo run with a dunk through traffic for an and-one to put the Bobcats up 67-55.
“That stretch in the second half, we got some transition buckets, and it was a result of the stops we got, Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said. “So, it's good to get the stops into run outs, and that’s where we built our lead.”
Ohio kept leaning on its starters for all 40 minutes. The bench did not have a field goal, but it did not matter because of Hadaway’s 27 points to lead the way as Ohio took control of the game and never looked back, not even surrendering the double-digit lead again in the contest. The clock ran down, and Ohio won 91-80.
“I was proud of him,” Boals said of Hadaway. “Double-double, 27 and 10. We knew by the way they were going to guard the post that it was going to create some offense for us. (Javan) Simmons found him a couple of times on the double team, and obviously, when he hit those threes, it built confidence to see him hit those. He’s been struggling to shoot the ball, but he’s put in the time and effort into it.”
