Ohio slows down Evansville, rolls to win
Bobcats limit high-scoring Purple Aces to 37.7 percent shooting
By Lonnie McMillan / Contributor
Saturday, November 30, 2013
ATHENS – Ohio had seven players score eight or more points and cruised to an 81-59 victory against Evansville on Saturday afternoon at The Convo.
The Bobcats (6-1) built a 42-26 halftime lead and had an advantage as big as 77-43 with 7:15 remaining.
Nick Kellogg’s 13 points led Ohio’s balanced effort, while Javarez Willis and Richardo Johnson finished with 12 points apiece.
Egidiju Mockevicius had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Evansville (5-2). D.J. Balentine, who came in averaging 27 points per game, was held to 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting. The Purple Aces, averaging 82.8 points per game and shooting 51.8 percent from the field, were limited to 37.7 percent shooting.
“I was really proud of our guys,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “… It was going to take a team effort and guarding for 40 minutes and we did that. For the first time this season, when we went to the bench, the energy level picked up.”
Ohio set the tone early, turning a 7-6 lead into a 12-point lead with a 13-2 run, limiting the Purple Aces to only one field goal in a five-minute span.
Balentine hit a 3-pointer that got Evansville as close as 22-13 with 11:26 left in the first half, but a Travis Wilkins jumper a minute and a half later was the start of an 8-0 run and the Bobcats took a 16-point lead into the locker room.
With a 3-pointer by Balentine, the Purple Aces got as close as 45-33 early in the second half, but Ohio came back with seven points in a row.
It was 61-42 in favor of Ohio when Willis and T.J. Hall hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Antonio Campbell scored in the paint and Maurice Ndour added jumper for a 29-point Ohio edge. Travis Wilkins hit a 3-pointer at the 7:15 mark for a 34-point Ohio advantage.
“We know we have to be confident whether we’re making shots or not,” Wilkins said. “… Me personally, I’ve struggled throughout the start of the season and it’s nice to have the encouragement of teammates and coaches.”
Wilkins was 2 of 4 from 3-point range and scored 10 points, while Hall finished with nine points. Ndour and Jon Smith scored eight points each and tied for the team lead with six rebounds apiece.
The Bobcats crashed the boards to the tune of 13 offensive rebounds despite limited opportunities for second-chance points – Ohio shot nearly 50 percent.
“We’re a pretty good offensive rebounding team,” Christian said. “… It’s a big part of what we do. It’s a good way to get to the foul line. It’s a good way to get easy baskets. It’s something we need to do every night.”
With 6:45 remaining, Ndour came down on an opponents’ foot and aggravated an ankle injury that limited to him to one day of practice this week, according to Christian. An MRI on Sunday will determine the extent of the injury but the expectation is that it is sprained. Christian said he would have liked to have had Ndour out of the game at that point but Smith had just left the game because of a dislocated finger, limiting the team’s depth in the post.
Balentine came in shooting 53.5 percent from the field and 91.7 percent from an average of 10 free throw attempts per game. Ohio sent him to the line just three times.
“The first thing you have to do is keep him off the foul line,” Christian said. “… We did a good job of that. You have to keep fresh bodies on him. There’s no way one guy can stop him. … We rotated fresh bodies on him because he’s such a big part of what they do.”
Ohio has a week off before traveling to face Oakland at 6 p.m. Saturday.
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