UMass stays unbeaten with 83-71 victory
Minutemen get balanced offensive game, shoot 61.5 percent
By Lonnie McMillan / Contributor Wednesday, December 18, 2013
ATHENS – No. 20 UMass shot 61.5 percent, including 65.4 percent in the first half, building a double digit lead and cruising to an 83-71 victory against Ohio on Wednesday night at The Convo.
Maxie Esho’s 16 points led seven Minutemen with seven or more points. He added 10 rebounds. Sampson Carter scored 14 points and Derrick Gordon finished with 13. Leading scorer Chaz Williams was held to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting but dished out 11 assists.
Maurice Ndour led the Bobcats (7-3) with 16 points, while Nick Kellogg scored 12 and Stevie Taylor had nine. Jon Smith had a team-best eight rebounds and eight points for Ohio, which shot 41.8 percent.
After trailing 45-34 at halftime, Ohio got as close as 53-47 with 16:12 remaining on a Taylor layup off a steal and assist from Ricardo Johnson. UMass (10-0) came back with nine straight points, punctuated by an Esho dunk, and Ohio never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
The Minutemen used an 8-0 run to take a 14-5 lead in the early minutes of the game. Just as in the second half, when Ohio closed the gap to six at the 8:24 mark on a Johnson 3-pointer, UMass came back with seven straight points to again take command.
|