Feb. 13, 2007
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - Junior Leon Williams scored a season-best 21 points, but the Bobcats suffered a 79-48 road loss to Mid-American Conference East Division leading Akron Tuesday at Rhodes Arena.
Ohio (16-9, 7-5) shot just 16-of-47 (34-percent) in the loss while Akron (19-5, 10-2) finished 30-of-62 (48-percent) and used a 40-27 rebounding advantage for the game. The Zips have now won 19 straight games at Rhodes Arena in conference action and eight games overall at home. Akron also finished with an 18-11 edge in turnovers and committed just three turnovers in the second half.
Williams (Baltimore, Md.) had a season-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Senior Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the only other Bobcat in double figures as he finished with 10 points. Troutman has now scored 1,203 points in his Ohio career, passing Bunk Adams in Bobcat history for 19th place on the all-time scoring list. Williams and Troutman led the Bobcats with five rebounds apiece. Sophomore Jerome Tillman (Beavercreek, Ohio) finished with eight points, snapping a streak of 21-straight contests in which he had reached double figures in scoring.
Dru Joyce led the Zips with 15 points while Cedrick Middleton added 13. Jeremiah Wood posted 12 points and a game-best 10 rebounds in the Akron win. Nate Linhart finished the contest with 11 points for the Zips.
Akron started the contest fast and on fire, jumping out to 14-3 run in the first 3:40 of action. The Zips were 6-of-8 during that time while the Bobcats struggled from the floor early. Ohio started just 1-of-4 shooting and turned the ball over four times in the first 5:14 of play.
The Zips extended their lead to 16 points at 22-6 before Williams finally stopped the bleeding with a layup with 12:40 remaining in the first half. At the 12:00 mark and the second media timeout of the game, Akron was 9-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-7 from downtown while Ohio was just 3-of-9 from the field. The Bobcats had made 2-of-3 from long distance while the Zips had six players in the scoring column early.
Coming out of the media timeout, the Bobcats scored eight of the game's next 10 points to make it a 10-2 Ohio run. Williams scored six points after the timeout and eight total on the run to cut Ohio's deficit to 24-16 with 10:47 left in the half.
Akron fired right back, using a 12-2 run to earn its biggest lead of the night to that point at 36-18. Linhart had six points during the run for the Zips. Williams snapped the run with a bucket but Ohio was only able to narrow the deficit by two before the break as Akron took a 42-26 lead into halftime.
The Bobcats were 10-of-28 (36-percent) in the half and missed their last six three-point attempts after a 2-for-3 start. The Zips were 17-of-30 (57-percent) in the half and 6-of-13 from beyond the three-point arc. Both teams committed their fair share of turnovers as the Zips finished with a 9-8 edge at the break.
Only three players on the Ohio team found the basket in the first half, led by 14 points from Williams. Troutman had seven points in the first half and Tillman chipped in five. Seven Zips scored at least two points in the half, led by Linhart with 11.
Akron scored the first five points out of the break to take a 21-point lead at 47-26. The Bobcats were able to cut the lead to 16 at 61-45 but that was as close as they got as the Zips scored the next nine points for the largest lead of the night to that point at 70-45. The Bobcats were unable to hit a shot from the floor in the final 9:38 of the game as the Zips finished with the 79-48 victory.
The Bobcats scored a season-low 48 points in the loss. Ohio's previous season low was 57 points at Ball State.
The Bobcats will look to non-conference action to get back in the win column. Ohio heads to Las Cruces, N.M. Saturday for an ESPN Bracketbuster's match up with New Mexico State. The game is slated for a midnight ET start and will be aired nationally on ESPN 2.
