Jan. 14, 2009
Final Stats
OXFORD, Ohio - Senior forward Jerome Tillman scored a career-high 35 points, with an astounding 29 in the second half, to power Ohio past Mid-American Conference rival Miami, 66-62, on the road at Millett Hall to keep the Bobcats perfect in conference play.
Ohio (9-6, 2-0 MAC) has now won five-consecutive games and is 2-0 in MAC play for the third time in the last four years. The last time the Bobcats started conference action with a pair of wins that included a road game was the 2001-02 season, and head coach John Groce became just the second floor general in school history to win his first MAC road game.
Tillman's 35 points were the most for a Bobcat since Brandon Hunter scored 35 on Feb. 1, 2003. The Beavercreek, Ohio native now stands alone in 13th place on Ohio's career points list with 1,370, jumping two spots over Robert Tatum (1982-86) and Curtis Simmons (1993-97). This game also marked the 20th contest in a row Tillman scored in double-figures.
"This win says that we can continue to get better each and every game," Tillman said. "We're heading in the right direction, and anytime we can get a win on the road in the MAC, it's a good thing."
Senior guard Michael Allen (Detroit, Mich.) was second on the team with eight points and had a team-high five assists. Allen shot 2-of-3 from behind-the-arc to provide support to Tillman's incredible performance. Also helping the Bobcats was sophomore guard Tommy Freeman (Muncie, Ind.) and freshman guard Stephen Coleman (Melbourne, Fla.), who each had seven points and a combined seven assists and five rebounds.
After only scoring six points before the break, Tillman put on a clinic, scoring Ohio's first 18 points to open the second half, including seven-straight field goals. His 29 second-half points alone were enough to break his previous career high of 28 set against Bucknell on Jan. 3. For the game, he finished 13-of-18 from the floor and 4-for-7 from three-point range, both career highs in field goals and three-pointers made. His 35 total points accounted for 53 percent of the Bobcats' 66 points in the game. He also added seven rebounds and finished 5-for-7 from the foul line.
As a team, the Bobcats shot 48 percent from the field on 24-of-50 shooting and 47 percent from behind-the-arc on 9-of-19. Ohio only turned the ball over 10 times to the RedHawks (8-6, 1-1 MAC) and finished even in the rebounding battle with 26 boards for each team.
At halftime, Ohio held a 29-26 lead before Tillman's explosion in the second half. The Bobcats led by as many as eight and never trailed after three minutes into the game, though Miami would not be put away easily. Senior forward Michael Bramos had a team-high 17 points to pace the RedHawks.
Late in the second half, Tillman broke his career high of 28 with a three-pointer, his third of the game, to give the Bobcats an eight-point lead with just over six minutes remaining.
Bramos nailed a three with about a minute to play to narrow Ohio's advantage to three, but the Bobcats had an answer to every RedHawk bucket. Fittingly, Tillman sank two free throws to ice the game with three seconds left, sealing the win and one of the best single-game performances in school history.
The Bobcats will remain on the road for their next MAC divisional test at Buffalo on Saturday, Jan. 17. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. ET, with pregame coverage to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Citizens Bank Ohio ISP Sports Network.
