Jan. 29, 2011
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - Nick Kellogg scored five-straight points in the final minutes to seal Ohio's 61-60 victory over MAC leader Ball State on Saturday.
Kellogg's (Westerville, Ohio) three-pointer with 2:31 left gave the Bobcats (10-11, 3-4) a 57-55 lead. He then stole the ball and scored to stretch it to 59-55.
Jarrod Jones scored for Ball State, and Tommy Freeman (Muncie, Ind.) hit two free throws for Ohio before Randy Davis' three-pointer at the buzzer cut the final gap to one point.
DeVaughn Washington (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored 16 points to lead the Bobcats and also added five rebounds. Freeman had 10 points and four rebounds and Ivo Baltic (Kansas City, Mo.) added six points and a career-high 12 rebounds for Ohio. Kellogg finished with 11 points as the 'Cats shot just 36.7 percent but made 19-of-21 free throws in winning their second straight.
Jones' 21 points led the Cardinals (13-7, 5-2), who have lost three straight. He became the 25th player in school history to surpass 1,000 points for his career. Davis added 11 points, including three three-pointers.
Ball State came out of the gate quickly as it opened on a 9-2 run to force an Ohio timeout just over three minutes into the game. Matt Kamieniecki, in his first career start, scored the first five BSU points.
Ohio settled in and started to chip away at the Cardinals' lead as it tied the game at 14-14 with a 7-2 run. The teams traded baskets for most of the first half with Ball State holding a 24-23 lead after scoring on a layup. From there, the Bobcats closed the first half on a 10-2 run to head into the locker room with a 33-26 advantage. During the stretch, Ohio got four points each from Washington and Ricardo Johnson (Covington, Ky.)
The Bobcats capitalized on their chances from the charity stripe, going 11-for-12, and out-rebounded the Cardinals 23-14, including 11 offensive rebounds as they scored 12 second chance points.The perimeter defense for the Green & White was also superb, forcing the Cardinals to miss all four three-pointers it took.
Ohio opened up a 44-35 lead with a 7-2 run, capped by a Freeman three-pointer to force BSU into a timeout. Ball State responded to the timeout in impressive fashion as it posted a 12-0 run to take a 47-44 lead and force Ohio into a timeout.
The Bobcats came right back and posted an 8-1 run to take the lead back at 52-48. Freeman and Kellogg were the catalysts in the run as they both hit long range shots to keep the see-saw affair going.
Ball State answered with seven-straight points to take a 55-52 lead as Jones scored five straight points in the run while Chris Bond topped the spurt with a fast break dunk off a steal in the Ohio backcourt.
The Bobcats had the game's final run though as they answered with seven straight of their own to take a 59-55 lead. Kellogg scored five points in the stretch, including the go-ahead three-pointer in transition.
Leading by two, Ohio played good defense against the Cardinals as the home team had two looks in the paint but were unable to convert. After an Ohio rebound, the Bobcats sealed the victory with a pair of free throws from Freeman with 20.3 seconds remaining.
Ohio is back on the road next week when it travels to Central Michigan on Wednesday night for a game at 7:30 p.m. That game will be broadcast on SportsTime Ohio.
