Nov. 19, 2006
Box Score | Quotes
ATHENS, Ohio - Senior Whitney Davis (Ann Arbor, Mich.) led all scorers with 19 points and junior Leon Williams (Baltimore, Md.) recorded his second-consecutive double-double as the Bobcats earned a 73-65 victory over Yale Sunday at the Convocation Center.
Ohio (2-0, 0-0) finished 22-of-48 (45.8-percent) from the floor and scored 23 points off turnovers compared to just eight for Yale (1-1, 0-0). The Bobcats went 21-for-33 (63.6-percent) from the charity stripe while the Bulldogs finished with just seven total attempts from the line.
Davis led all scorers with 19 points and was 5-of-9 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. He added six rebounds, two steals and an assist in the win. Williams joined Davis in double-figures with 10 points and also posted a game-best 10 rebounds for his 18th career double-double. He was 4-for-7 from the floor on the day.
Two other Bobcats also finished in double-digit scoring as freshman Kenneth van Kempen (Weert, The Netherlands) posted a career-high 15 points and sophomore Jerome Tillman (Beavercreek, Ohio) added 10. Tillman chipped in two steals and four rebounds while van Kempen was 5-of-6 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from downtown. He added five rebounds and a steal in his second contest as a Bobcat. Senior Stephen King (Richfield, Minn.) scored a career-high nine points in the win and senior Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished with a team-high six assists.
Eric Flato led the Bulldogs with 16 points as Yale shot 25-of-56 (44.6-percent) on the day. Jason Abromaitis was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 10 points in the loss. Abromaitis also posted a team-best seven rebounds for Yale.
The Bulldogs started out on fire as they scored nine of the game's first 12 points and hit four of their first six shots from the floor. Yale jumped to an early 14-6 advantage, helped by four Bobcat turnovers in the first 3:45 of play. The Bulldogs used the three-ball to build the early lead, with four of the team's first eight buckets counting for three. Abromaitis hit back-to-back trays to give Yale a 20-12 lead with 11:37 left to play in the first half.
With the first eight minutes of play belonging to the Bulldogs, Ohio turned the tide and controlled the rest of the half. The Bobcats used an 8-0 run, finished with back-to-back threes by van Kempen and Davis, to knot the game at 20 with 6:34 remaining in the first half. Yale went cold from the field during that time, as they did not score from the 11:37 mark until the 6:11 mark. The Bulldogs turned the ball over three times in that span.
After the Bobcat run, Yale crept back in front, 27-22, but Ohio finished the first half on a 12-3 run to take a 34-30 lead heading into halftime. The Bobcats took their first lead of the contest on a jumper by van Kempen with just 1:13 left to play in the first half. Davis led all scorers at the break with 12 points in the first half.
The Bulldogs came out strong in the second half and tied the contest a 36 on a dunk by Matt Kyle with just more than two minutes gone by in the half. It was the last time in the contest that Ohio failed to lead, as the Bobcats followed the dunk with an 11-0 run for a 47-36 lead. Yale continued to fight the rest of the way and used a 10-2 run to pull within three points. The Bulldogs pulled within two points on two different occasions, the last with 2:25 remaining in the contest, but Ohio scored the next six points to put the game out of reach. Junior Antonio Chatman (Dorchester, Mass.) finished off the scoring with a pair of free-throws to give Ohio the 73-65 win.
Ohio returns to action Nov. 28 with a road contest at Samford. The action begins at 7:00 p.m.
