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Ndour, Taylor combine for 51 to help Bobcats top Rockets in OT

Kellogg dishes out career-high 9 assists


ATHENS – Maurice Ndour and Stevie Taylor both scored career highs with 28 and 23 points, respectively, and Ohio came out on top of a back-and-forth game against Toledo, 95-90, on Saturday at The Convo.

For the third straight game, the Bobcats rallied from a second-half deficit, and for the second time this year, Ohio was unable to hold a lead in the final minute and had to go to overtime. The Rockets led by 11 with less than nine minutes remaining and Ohio had a five-point advantage with 50 seconds left in regulation.

Julius Brown had 28 points and seven assists to lead the Rockets, who also got 16 from J.D. Weatherspoon, 14 from Jonathan Williams off the bench and 12 from Justin Drummond.

Nick Kellogg had 18 points and a career-high nine assists for the Bobcats (16-5, 6-2 Mid-American Conference).

“This was just a great college basketball game,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “Both teams played very well. Both teams made huge shots. Our atmosphere was phenomenal and to me, in my 25 years of doing this, this is probably the most fun I’ve had in a basketball game, win or lose. It was unbelievable. The attitude of our players and their players, the high level of play, everything that was going on out there, that’s basketball.”

Williams hit a 3-pointer after Ndour opened overtime with a basket and the teams traded baskets and the lead until Ohio finally got a stop when Taylor forced a five-second call on Brown with 47 seconds remaining.

“I was definitely going after that,” Taylor said. “(Assistant) coach Wu[czynski] told me we had to get a big stop. He said this is simple; this is a heart game. I just took whatever I had left in me and I pressured him the whole time and I got the five-second call.”

Taylor then hit two free throws to make it a three-point game and Brown missed a 3-point attempt in the final 10 seconds. T.J. Hall rebounded and got the ball to Ndour, who found Taylor alone at the other end for game-clinching layup.

Toledo (18-3, 6-2 MAC) trailed by five at halftime and was down nine early in the second half after a Jon Smith dunk on a find by Kellogg, but the Rockets took the lead with 12 straight points.

The game was tied at 58 on Hall’s points inside at the 11:50 mark before Toledo again went on another big run – this time scoring 11 straight points. The Rockets went up 69-58 on a layup by Brown.

Ohio got right back in the game with three straight 3-pointers – one by Travis Wilkins and two by Kellogg assisted by Wilkins. Taylor’s 3-pointer with 4:47 to go tied the game again.

“We’re coming from behind because we’re getting a tougher mindset,” Christian said. “We’re becoming a resilient team, and we’re able to weather it. The one thing I love about this team is that we’re able to weather it. That doesn’t mean we’re always positive with one another, but we just keep playing.”

Smith dunked on a pass from Hall and then scored a three-point play with 1:47 remaining, giving the Bobcats a five-point lead.

Brown hit a pair at the foul line only six seconds later, but Taylor’s free throws with 50 seconds to go made it a five-point Bobcats advantage again. Matt Smith hit a 3-pointer for the Rockets and Brown scored the tying basket with 15 seconds left. Taylor missed the final shot of regulation.

Ohio led most of the first 12 minutes before a 14-2 Rockets run gave them an eight-point lead midway through the period. The Bobcats, though, responded with 11 straight points and 20 of the next 22, going up by 10 on a Kellogg 3-pointer at the 4:09 mark.








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