Feb. 9, 2010

Final Stats |  Quotes

ATHENS, Ohio-Tommy Freeman tallied a career-high 30 points on 11-15 shooting and 6-9 from 3-point range to lead the host Bobcats past Western Michigan 90-74 Tuesday evening in the Convocation Center. The Bobcats improved to 13-11 overall and 4-6 in the Mid-American Conference, while the Broncos dropped to 13-11 and 5-6 in the league.

Joining Freeman in double figures were Armon Bassett (21), Kenneth van Kempen (12) and D.J. Cooper (10). Bassett also had a career-high nine assists and hit his first five 3-point attempts. Cooper flirted with a triple-double yet again as he also posted a team-high nine rebounds and eight helpers of his own.

WMU was led by Martelle McLemore, who tied a career-high with 24 points on 9-15 shooting and 6-11 from long range. David Kool, the MAC's leading scorer, finished a shade under his average with 19 points (and three steals), but took 18 shots in the process. Donald Lawson added a game-high 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Mike Douglas had nine assists.

Western Michigan jumped out to an early lead, but that success would be short-lived after Reggie Keely's dunk off a Cooper feed put the Bobcats up by a point (7-6) just four minutes, 50 seconds into the contest. The lead never changed hands after that and grew to as many as 23 points four separate times in the second half, the last on a Bassett layup with 13:11 left to play.

The Bobcats finished the evening with a red-hot 60.9 percent clip (14-23) from the 3-point arc and exhibited some of the best ball movement of the season with 25 assists on their 32 field goals. Ohio also captured the rebounding battle 36-34, a noteworthy item given the fact that the Broncos came into the game leading the league in rebounding margin.

The two teams finished relatively even in turnovers (WMU 14, Ohio 12), but the Bobcats held a 25-13 edge in points off turnovers.

Ohio will have a short turnaround as the Chippewas visit the Convo Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.