The Convo was packed Saturday for a mid-day game with a ton of buzz surrounding it as Ohio (15-14 overall, 9-7 Mid-American Conference) welcomed Toledo to Athens for a match stocked with MAC Tournament implications.
The two teams sat close in the standings coming into the game, and the Ohio loss still keeps them close with Toledo regarding seeding in Cleveland. On top of that, it was senior day in Athens, with the pregame ceremonies adding to the big-game feeling.
All of the senior day activities and buzz around the game did not mean much when it came to the start of play, as Toledo got out to a 9-0 lead after the first three minutes of play. Ohio couldn’t find the bottom of the net until senior guard Ajay Sheldon drilled a 3-pointer for the first Ohio points.
“I thought our start wasn't ideal,” Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said. “Obviously, (we) missed a lot of easy baskets, point-blank to the rim. I thought we let our offense affect our defense in that stretch.”
Sheldon stayed hot, making Ohio’s second shot of the game, another 3-pointer, this time in front of the Toledo bench.
The Ohio drought continued, but former Rocket Javan Simmons found redshirt freshman forward Kiir Kuany for a huge dunk that got The Convo crowd back into it.
Toledo kept scoring, as Sonny Wilson and Sean Craig scored, while their former teammate Simmons struggled, starting the game 0-7 from the floor.
Simmons finally got his first shot to fall with an and-one layup on the low block. After that shot, he hit his next two, and Ohio finally started to gain some momentum as senior forward Aidan Hadaway made a 3-pointer and hyped up the student section.
The 7-0 run was capped by the triple from Hadaway, which wouldn’t stretch over into the final two minutes of the half; however, Toledo’s Leroy Blyden Jr. isolated Hadaway and made a tough mid-range jumper at the buzzer to end the half with the Rockets ahead 41-28.
Ohio would not repeat the same start to the second half; however, as Hadaway converted a layup, he would find freshman forward JJ Kelly in the corner for a 3-pointer.
The Rockets kept answering, denying the Bobcats a needed run. The Bobcats kept chipping away at the lead, with another 3-pointer from Kelly and a turnaround hook from Hadaway making it a six-point Toledo lead.
“(We) started making a run, started getting the crowd into it,” Hadaway said. “I mean, I feel like that's when we’re at our best. The five we had out there when we made that run. That was the five that should’ve been out there the whole game.”
The energy from Ohio was up by about nine notches in the second half, with Simmons being the generator for much of the juice. He was clearly playing with a little something more against his former team, and in the second half, he came alive.
“I knew I had played badly in the first half, and I didn’t want to let my brothers down,” Simmons said. “I kind of just got it going, (my teammates) told me they believed in me at halftime.”
He was aggressive on the low block, getting layups to fall and hawking rebounds. On the defensive end, he swatted an Austin Parks layup before taking it himself all the way for a tough layup.
He came back down the court and tied up Parks for a jump ball, and then proceeded to walk over to the Toledo bench to jaw with the coaches and players of the Rockets.
His energy kept working, as Ohio kept chipping away at the lead with the trio of Simmons, Kelly and Hadaway.
Senior guard Jackson Paveletzke was another player who was cold in the first half, but started to find his groove with a couple of layups that were created with his off-ball movement and cuts.
The energy burst started to wear off as the Rockets kept coming back, and Blyden led the way with some tough layups.
Simmons just would not be denied, as he rattled off two more and-one layups that he would convert at the line.
Down the stretch, Ohio was unable to capitalize on the stops it was getting as Toledo kept grabbing offensive rebounds. The Rockets finished with 14 offensive boards.
“To give up 14 offensive rebounds, that's not what they do,” Boals said on Toledo’s offensive rebounding. “When you battle back like that, every possession is gonna matter, and obviously we didn’t make enough plays to win.”
Those offensive rebounds turned into second-chance points, which killed the Bobcats late. Toledo made one final run with free throws to seal the win.
These two teams could very well meet again in the MAC Tournament, and time will tell if Ohio gets a chance to break the 11-game losing streak against the Rockets in Cleveland.
