Last-Second Three Gives Depleted Bobcats 66-65 Win
Without Injured Starters Green and Harbut, Ohio Beats Detroit on Saturday
Contact: Jim Stephan
2/19/2005
 Freshman point guard Jeremy Fears led Ohio with 17 points at Detroit on Saturday, including two late three-pointers. |
DETROIT ? A last-second, fall-away three-pointer by freshman point guard Jeremy Fears (Joliet, Ill.) gave the Ohio men?s basketball team a thrilling come-from-behind 66-65 victory at Detroit on Saturday. Fears led the Bobcats, who were playing without junior guard Mychal Green (Columbus) and senior forward Terren Harbut (Lexington, Ky.), with 17 points.
?This win was so improbable because we were down 15 to a very talented team and had two of our starters out,? said Ohio head coach Tim O?Shea. ?To find a way to come back and win, I can?t figure it out myself but I?m sure glad it worked out the way it did.?
With the Bobcats (14-9) trailing 63-58 with under a minute remaining, sophomore forward Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis) scored a field goal to pull Ohio within three. Following a five-second violation by Detroit (10-15) on an inbounds play, Fears stroked a three-pointer to tie the game at 63-63 with 33.4 seconds left.
On the other end, Fears fouled Titan guard Brandon Cotton, who sank a pair of free throws to make it 65-63 with 6.2 ticks remaining. After a Detroit timeout, sophomore guard Whitney Davis (Ann Arbor, Mich.) raced down the court and fed the ball to Fears, who drained a fall-away trey as the clock expired.
?Every team needs playmakers,? said O?Shea. ?I knew when I recruited Jeremy that he had that self-confidence, that characteristic that real champion players have and you?ve got to let them play through their mistakes. He has terrific ability for a freshman and he?s only going to get better.?
The Bobcats trailed by 15 points midway through the first half and were down 34-25 at halftime. The deficit went back to 15 at 43-28 with 15:49 to play but Ohio chipped away at the advantage with strong performances by Davis and junior forward Jeff Halbert (White Bear Lake, Minn.). Davis tied his career high with 15 points while Halbert finished with 14 on four three-pointers and a pair of free throws.
Troutman also reached double-figures with 11 points as the Bobcats shot 48.8 percent (20-of-41) from the field, 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from behind the arc and 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the charity stripe. Freshman forward Leon Williams (Baltimore) recorded seven points and a team-high eight rebounds while senior point guard Diamond Gladney (St. Louis) chipped in two points to round out the scoring for Ohio.
?For us to come in here and win this game against a team that talented without Mychal Green and Terren Harbut available to us says a lot about the character of this team,? O?Shea said. ?We had some guys like Matt Annen (Elk River, Minn.) and James Bridgewater (Ann Arbor, Mich.) give us some solid minutes even though they won?t show up much in the stat sheet.?
Cotton led the Titans with 25 points while teammate James Thues finished with 14 points, eight assists and eights steals. For the game, Detroit made 24-of-51 (47.1 percent) from the field, 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from three-point range and 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) from the line.
?This is a very tough place to play,? said O?Shea about Detroit?s Calihan Hall. ?I think they?ve won about 90 percent of their games here. They?re a very talented team and their record is not reflective of their team because they didn?t have Cotton for their first eight games. This should be a tremendous game when it returns to The Convo next year.?
Next up for the Bobcats is a Wednesday night home game against Eastern Michigan. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center, where Ohio is 10-1 this season.
For ticket information, please contact the Ohio Athletics Ticket Office at 740-593-1300, toll-free at 800-575-CATS or online by CLICKING HERE.
