Lonnie McMillan Photo

The Bobcats (24-7, 11-5 MAC) had 15 offensive rebounds, including six by Smith, who tied for the team-lead with seven total rebounds. Ivo Baltic had seven boards and scored all eight of his points in the first half. Cooper had four rebounds, four assists and five steals, breaking the school’s career assist record with another season still to play.

Miami (9-20, 5-11 MAC) got 11 points from Brian Sullivan, but after lighting up Ohio in the teams’ first match-up, the nation’s sixth-leading 3-point shooter was just 1 of 6 from beyond the arc this time. Adam Thomas had 10 points.

With the game delayed from Friday night, Ohio coach John Groce was somewhat concerned with how his team might be affected.

“I was a little bit worried because I thought yesterday they were ready to roll,” Groce said. “Then all of a sudden you find out – it’s not like you find out at 8 in the morning; you find out at 4 in the afternoon, when you’re ready to leave in 50 minutes. I worried about it, but I worried for nothing.”

Ohio opened up its biggest lead, 50-38, with just 6:55 remaining on a Smith free throw, but Miami made a final push. Sullivan and Julian Mavunga, limited to just eight points, each knocked down a pair of free throws and Sullivan assisted a Thomas dunk at the 4:28 mark that closed the gap to six.

Reggie Keely ended Miami’s run with a layup, but Quinten Rollins scored four straight points to make it 52-48 with 2:22 remaining.

Lonnie McMillan Photo

It was a quick start by the Bobcats that set the tone. Miami led 5-4, but Ohio took the lead for good on a Nick Kellogg 3-point play and also got a Smith dunk and a Johnson jumper to open up a six-point lead.

Baltic scored back-to-back baskets and Smith slammed home a dunk at the 7:48 for a 20-8 Ohio advantage.

“How’s our defense going to be to start? That tells me everything,” Groce said. “I was like, Hey, all right, we’ve got it. At least, we’ve got our mojo.”

Miami closed the half with a bit of a run, with a pair of Sullivan free throws cutting the deficit to 28-24 at the break. That was as close as the RedHawks got the rest of the game, though.

The Ohio advantage wavered between four and eight points most of the second half before an 8-2 run by the Bobcats blew things open a bit. Offutt followed a miss with a layup and Kellogg drained a 3-pointer. After a Harris basket, Smith scored three straight points for a 50-38 Bobcats advantage.

“I thought the play of Jon Smith was terrific, maybe as well as he’s played all year,” Groce said. “Thirteen points, seven rebounds and he covered up a lot of sins on defense.”

Mavunga sat out much of the second half with an ankle injury, but even without him, Miami stayed close.

“I thought that was a strange but good game,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “I look up at the scoreboard and Julian Mavunga has said he can’t play no more. It’s 50-44 and we got the ball. What? That’s what’s been tickling me all year. I’ve never had a team this bad that’s played this good. We’ve just been hitting places where it was going to be hard to go, but my kids keep fighting.”

Had Ohio lost, it could have dropped to fifth place overall in the MAC with an Eastern Michigan victory today against Toledo, losing out on one of the byes. With the victory, the Bobcats can earn the No. 2 seed and a bye to the tournament semifinals, if Buffalo loses to Bowling Green. Otherwise, they will be seeded third.

“I don’t talk to them a whole lot about that kind of stuff, but (the players) know,” Groce said. “… We’re in position now where we can earn one of those two and I’m proud of our guys for positioning themselves and they earned it.”

First-round games on campus sites are set for Monday, while second-round games between Monday’s winners are Wednesday in Cleveland. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are set for Thursday through Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena.

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