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ATHENS, Ohio -- A career-high 21 points for freshman guard Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) led the way for the Ohio men's basketball team (9-6, 5-4 MAC) in an 81-58 victory over Western Michigan (2-10, 1-8 MAC) Tuesday night at the Convocation Center.

"(Sears) has a great finishing ability," said second year head coach Jeff Boals. "He creates contact and gets to the free throw line. His ability to get down low just adds a whole different dimension to our offense."

Four Bobcats reached double figures in points. Sears finished the day with 21 points, six assists and two boards. Senior forward Dwight Wilson III (Tallahassee, Fla.) added 19 points and eight rebounds. Redshirt junior forward Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) and sophomore guard Lunden McDay (Akron, Ohio) each tallied 11 points. 

The Bobcats were dominant in the paint, outscoring the Broncos 44-14. 

"They started off getting a bunch of shots," said Vander Plas. "I think (Western Michigan senior forward Greg) Lee started with their first seven points or something like that. We put a little bit more focus onto him, just guarding our gaps and trying to limit every possession to one shot. I think we did a pretty good job of that. I think we held them to single digits for a while in the second half. Everyone bought in at halftime and we came out and had a great start."

Ohio won the tip and a second-chance layup by McDay put the Bobcats on the board first. Coming out of the first media timeout, Sears forced a turnover, and Preston collected, putting the Bobcats up 15-14 with 13:19 to go. Wilson III capitalized on a pair of turnovers to push the lead to four. Vander Plas sunk a three with 4:37 remaining to put the Bobcats up 32-24. With five seconds remaining, Preston made a layup to give the Bobcats a 43-31 lead going into halftime. 

Vander Plas led all Ohio players at the half with 11 points, while Wilson III and Sears scored 10 each. 

The Bobcats struck first in the second half, outscoring the Broncos 10-2 in the first few minutes to put Ohio up 53-33 with 15:18 to go. A put back basket by Wilson III gave the Bobcats a 71-47 lead with 6:13 remaining. Ohio went on to cruise to a 23-point win, which represents Ohio's largest margin of victory in conference play to date. 

"We talked about at halftime, coming out with more of an urgency," said Boals. "I thought our defense created offense and we were able to push 12 points to 20 and maintain that lead steadily."

The Broncos were led by senior forward Greg Lee, who tallied 17 points.

The Bobcats return to action on Friday, January 29, at 7 p.m. ET as they make the trip to Amherst, N.Y., for a Mid-American Conference match-up with Buffalo. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

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