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Campbell's huge 2nd half leads Ohio past Kent State

Bobcats big man scores 22 of his 28 after break


ATHENS – Antonio Campbell scored 28 points and grabbed seven rebounds as Ohio knocked off first-place Kent State, 72-61, on Friday night at The Convo.

Campbell went 11 of 19 from the field and 5 of 5 at the foul line, and the Bobcats (13-7, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) got 12 points from Kenny Kaminski and nine each from Treg Setty and Jaaron Simmons, who dished out eight assists.

"I thought we did a very good job of battling a very strong, tough team,” Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. “To come up even on the boards was big. Obviously, Tony Campbell was unbelievable. I thought the last two games have been huge steps forward in the maturation of this team from a toughness standpoint."

Jimmy Hall led the Golden Flashes (15-6, 6-2 MAC) with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Deon Edwin added 11 points, and Galal Cancer had nine points.

Ohio led 30-23 at halftime and never trailed in the second half. Kent State got as close as 34-33 on a Kellon Thomas 3-pointer with 17:27 remaining, but Campbell scored in the paint, and after a Khaliq Spicer free throw, Campbell finished a three-point play for the Bobcats.

Campbell’s layup at the 12:35 mark pushed Ohio’s advantage to 48-39, and the lead reached double-digits on a fast break dunk by Wadly Mompremier following his block of Thomas. Simmons scored in the paint to make it 52-40.

Edwin’s basket with 8:43 remaining got the Golden Flashes to within 52-46 and they cut their deficit to 54-49 on an Edwin jumper with 6:45 to go, but Setty followed with a 3-pointer and then scored a layup after a steal to put Ohio back up 10. Kent State got only as close as seven after that.

After going 3 of 8 from the field in the first half, Campbell was 8 of 11 in the second half for 22 points.

"I just slowed down a little bit,” Campbell said. “I feel like I was trying to move too fast in the first half. That led to missed lay-ups and people blocking my shots. So, I just slowed down."

Kent State’s only lead was 2-0 on a bucket by Xavier Pollard, but he left a few minutes later and was sidelined on crutches the rest of the game.

Kaminski hit a 3-pointer and then two free throws to push the Bobcats’ early advantage to 15-6 and another 3-pointer with 6:55 to go before halftime put the Bobcats ahead 22-11.

The Golden Flashes came back with nine straight points to make it a two-point game, but the Bobcats got 3-pointers from Gavin Block and Simmons to push the lead back out to seven at the break.

Kent State shot just 31 percent in the first half and 38.6 percent overall. Ohio finished at 42.2 percent in the game, and shot 51.7 percent in the second half. The Bobcats cashed in on 11 of 13 free-throw tries.

"I think this was definitely our best defensive game,” Kaminski said. “The last time we played Kent we struggled guarding the ball. I think we did a pretty good job of doing that tonight. I don't think this was our best offensive game even though we did score 72."

Both teams had nine offensive rebounds. Mompremier had six boards in just 10 minutes. Ohio had fewer turnovers, 14-9.

Ohio plays the second of three straight home games when it takes on Akron at 7 p.m. Tuesday.








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