ATHENS, Ohio ? Led by Leon Williams? (Baltimore) 13 second-half points, the Ohio men?s basketball team pulled away from Duquesne for a 73-60 win at the Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon. The freshman forward from Baltimore also grabbed 18 rebounds for his third career double-double performance.

?As I?ve said all along, he is an exceptional freshman,? said Bobcat head coach Tim O?Shea about Williams. ?What really separates him from so many freshmen you see playing college basketball is his physical maturity, his strength. I don?t know if (former Ohio standouts) Brandon Hunter or Gary Trent ever grabbed 18 rebounds as a freshman; it?s a pretty impressive number.?

The Bobcats (4-2) struggled a bit in the first half as Duquesne?s Jack Higgins hit three three-pointers and went into the break with 13 points. The Dukes (2-8) led by as many as six midway through the period but Ohio fought back to tie it 30-30 at halftime.

?In the first half, we got into early foul trouble and didn?t have a post presence,? said O?Shea. ?In the second half, Leon played through the fouls and just did a tremendous job cleaning the glass for us.?

Following a 43-43 tie with 14:17 remaining in the second half, Williams converted a layup and then six straight free throws to give Ohio its largest lead at 51-43 with 11:22 left. A layup by Duquesne?s DeVario Hudson quickly cut the lead to six but that is as close as it would come for the remainder of the contest.

The Bobcats outscored the Dukes 12-3 over the next six minutes to push their lead to 63-48 with 5:35 to play and coasted from there on out as the advantage never went below double digits.

Junior guard Mychal Green (Columbus) led Ohio with 17 points, including a six-for-six performance from the free-throw line. Senior forward Terren Harbut (Lexington, Ky.) and sophomore forward Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis) followed Williams? 13 points with 12 apiece as Troutman also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists.

In his first career start, freshman point guard Jeremy Fears finished with nine points, three rebounds and an assist while junior forward Jeff Halbert (White Bear Lake, Minn.) came off the bench to record six points and six boards. Rounding out Ohio?s scoring were senior point guard Diamond Gladney (St. Louis) and sophomore guard Whitney Davis (Ann Arbor, Mich.) with two points each.

Bryant McAllister provided Duquesne with 18 points while Higgins matched that total off the bench. Hudson contributed nine points and Martin Osimani added seven points and five assists to the losing effort.

For the game, the Bobcats shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from the field including 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from three-point range and 83.3 percent (25-of-30) from the free-throw line. In comparison, the Dukes managed 35.0 percent (21-of-60) from the field, 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from behind the arc and 75.0 percent (12-of-16) from the charity stripe.

Despite losing the turnover battle 17-8, Ohio held a commanding 48-23 edge in rebounding.

?As a coach, it?s nice to be able to win a game with rebounding and defense,? said O?Shea. ?This team can win a game with rebounding and defense. That?s a good sign that bodes well for the rest of the season.?

With the win, the Bobcats remain undefeated (4-0) at home this year and avenge last year?s 96-91 loss to Duquesne and former head coach Danny Nee, who was 107-67 in six seasons at Ohio from 1980-86.

The Bobcats now have a short break before traveling to Miami, Fla., to take on Binghamton in the Florida International University Holiday Classic at 6 p.m. on Dec. 27. Ohio will then take on either host FIU or Colgate the following day to close out the tournament.

The Mid-American Conference season will begin with road trips to Akron on Jan. 2 and to Ball State on Dec. 5 before the Bobcats return to The Convo for a 2 p.m. showdown against Marshall on Sunday, Jan. 9.

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