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ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio men's basketball team (1-0) opened their 2021-22 season on Tuesday night (Nov. 9) with a win, 92-80, against the Belmont Bruins (0-1) at the Convocation Center. Ohio was led offensively by sophomore guard
Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.), who finished with 27 points on 10 for 11 shooting, with six rebounds and four assists.
"We had an awesome crowd tonight," head coach
Jeff Boals said after the game. "It was a great carryover from the Capital game. The vibe, the energy level, the students and the community was great, it is great to have everybody back and we got great team win."
Belmont won the tip and scored the first point of the game after a foul was called on redshirt senior forward
Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.). The Bobcats answered rather quickly as sophomore forward
Ben Roderick (Powell, Ohio) sank a three to give the Bobcats an early lead.
The Bruins answered with a layup to tie the game at three with 18:39 left. However, a jumper from junior guard
Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and two three-pointers from Sears put Ohio up 11-5 with 17:05 left.
Both teams went on to exchange baskets before the Bobcats went on an 8-0 run with 15:02 left. The Bruins defense fought back and kept the Bobcats lead to single digitals for the remaining of the half.
As the first half expired, Vander Plas drained a three to propel Ohio into halftime with a 44-39 lead.
The Bobcats ended the half shooting 45 percent from the field, 45 percent from three and 100 percent from the line. Meanwhile, Belmont shot 50 percent from the field and 33 percent from three.
Individually, Sears led the Bobcats with 13 points, going 5-of-5 from the field, and 3-of-3 from three. Vander Plas added 12 points while 5
th year forward Jason Carter (Johnstown, Ohio) and Brown both added eight.
Roderick and Sears led the Bobcats at half with eight rebounds.
"The best thing about him (Sears), is he is an attacker and penetrator," Boals said. "He is a gamer and is determined to score. Nothing phases the kid; he is such a laid-back kid who has put the time and work in, and we will keep building on his skills."
In the second half, Ohio went straight to work with a dunk from Carter in the opening minute. Over the course of the next seven minutes, the Bruins cut the lead to two before scoring a jumper to take a 56-55 lead over the Bobcats with 13:33 left to go. However, a layup by Carter allowed Ohio to go up 60-58 and take control of the game with 11:13 left.
"Defense was a big emphasis for us coming into this game," Carter said. "They are a high-powered offense who last year was averaging over 80 points a game. We worked on a lot of what they do on offense to guard effectively, and I think we executed it really well tonight."
The Bobcats finished out the remainder of the game out-scoring the Bruins 32-22 while shooting 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from three.
Ohio had three other players alongside Sears finish with double-digit points. Carter contributed 20, Vander Plas had 19, and Brown scored 10. Carter led the rebounding effort with 10, while Vander Plas
dished out seven assists.
Up Next:
The Bobcats will travel to Cleveland on Sunday, Nov. 13, for a matchup against Cleveland State at 7 p.m. inside the Wolstein Center.
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