Dec. 17, 2011

Final Stats

DAYTON, Ohio -- D.J. Cooper scored 20 points, one shy of his season-high, and grabbed nine rebounds while Ivo Baltic added a season-high 15 points as Ohio defeated Wright State 82-54 on Saturday night. The Bobcats moved to 9-1 and are off to the best start in a season since 1969-70.

Cooper and Baltic each made 7-of-9 field goal attempts as the Bobcats shot 61.7 percent (29 of 47), their best offensive performance of the season. Reggie Keely added 11 points for Ohio (9-1), which has won six games in a row. Keely has now scored in double figures seven times this season for the Green & White.

The Bobcats, who have won four straight in the series with Wright State, have held their past three opponents to fewer than 55 points each. This was also the third-straight team to shoot under 40 percent in a contest against the Bobcats.

Ohio used a 20-5 run in the first half to break the game open and claim a 34-13 lead with 3:51 remaining in the half. The Bobcats improved to 9-0 this season when leading at halftime. Keely led all scorers at the break with nine points as Ohio shot 59 percent and Wright State went 3-of-13 at the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Bobcats went 13-of-18 in the first 20 minutes.

Ohio led by at least 18 points the entire second half and once again showed the offensive balance Head Coach John Groce has been looking for with 10 players in the scoring column.

Cole Darling scored 11 points for Wright State (4-8), which shot only 38 percent (19 of 50) from the field.

This was the fourth-straight road win for the Bobcats, the best start to a season away from Athens since the 1954-55 squad won a quartet of games away from The Convo.

Ohio out-rebounded Wright State by seven and also won the turnover battle, forcing 21 mistakes from the home team. The Bobcats scored 30 points off Raider miscues.

The next game for the Bobcats is Tuesday night at 8 p.m. EST at Northern Iowa. After that, Ohio is home on Friday, December 23rd for a game against North Carolina A&T at 7 p.m.