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Ohio rallies from 15-point deficit with 7:30 remaining to top UNCG

Bobcats outscore Spartans 25-5 down the stretch in CBI quarterfinals


ATHENS – Huge comebacks are not reserved for the NCAA Tournament.

Trailing by 15 with seven and a half minutes to go, Ohio outscored UNC Greensboro 25-5 the rest of the way to take a 72-67 victory in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational on Monday night at The Convo.

Jordan Dartis hit a tough contested go-ahead 3-pointer to complete Ohio’s comeback, and he finished with 14 points. Antonio Campbell had a monster game on the boards with 19 rebounds, and he added 17 points. Jaaron Simmons had a game-high 19 points and eight assists, moving him past D.J. Cooper for the most assists in a single season in the Mid-American Conference.

"I think it's pretty clear that deep down in their hearts this team really wants it," Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. "We made the right plays down the stretch to continue the season. Jaaron was the man down the stretch. Jordan hit the some big shots. Jordan has a flair for the dramatic."

Ohio (23-11) will host Morehead State in the semifinals of the tournament at 7 p.m. Wednesday at The Convo. The Eagles were an 82-72 winner against Duquesne in one of the other quarterfinals.

The underdog Spartans (15-19) gave the Bobcats all they could handle and then some, led by Diante Baldwin’s 17 points. Marvin Smith added 16 points and seven rebounds, and RJ White had 11 points.

Demetrius Troy’s jumper capped a 15-2 UNCG run and gave the Spartans a 62-47 lead with 7:45 remaining, but the Bobcats got back in it quickly.

Simmons assisted a Campbell basket and then got a steal for two points of his own. Treg Setty drove the baseline to find Campbell for a dunk that forced a Spartans timeout with their lead down to single-digits in a minute and a half.

The run continued with two Simmons free throws, and Ohio made it 10 in a row with a Campbell layup assisted by Simmons with 4:34 remaining.

After Francis Alonso finally got the Spartans a bucket with a kind roll, Simmons came back with two points for Ohio and then he buried a 3-pointer to make it 64-62 with 3:18 remaining.

Dartis then gave Ohio the lead with a trey with 2:41 to go, but Kayel Locke answered with a 3-pointer of his own to put the Spartans back up two. Simmons missed from the outside, but the Bobcats got a stop to get another chance, and Campbell sank two free throws to tie it at 67 with 1:15 remaining.

Locke missed on the other end, and Ohio did not get a good look out of a timeout, but Dartis knocked it down anyway. His heavily contested 3-pointer with 24 seconds left put the Bobcats up for good, 70-67.

"I just hit a good shot; that's really it," Dartis said. "It was a tough shot and it just went in."

Alonso missed a layup try for UNCG, and Simmons sank two free throws to ice the game.

UNCG took control eight minutes into the game and held the lead until the final minutes. Smith hit a 3-pointer to put the Spartans up 17-16, and they pushed the lead out to as big as 31-19 on a Baldwin trey at the 5:51 mark.

Ohio was able to cut its deficit to 38-32 by halftime, to three on a Kenny Kaminski 3-pointer early in the second half and then two on a pair of Simmons free throws with 13:13 left before UNCG went on a tear to surge ahead.

White began it with a three-point play, and Troy followed with a layup. Baldwins’ triple pushed the lead to double-digits, and after a Kaminski layup, Troy connected from long range. Baskets by White and Troy made it 62-47.

The Bobcats shot 44.8 percent from the floor, but were ice cold before the final minutes, finishing 5 of 20 on 3-pointers despite the big finish. They were 15 of 17 on foul shots.

In the other two CBI quarterfinal games, both 10 p.m. starts, Nevada hosts Eastern Washington, and Seattle hosts Vermont. Teams are re-bracketed for the semifinals.








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