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ATHENS, Ohio – Led by 23 points and seven threes from senior guard Tommy Schmock and a triple double by redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas, the Ohio men's basketball team (23-5, 14-3 MAC) defeated Central Michigan (6-19, 5- MAC), 76-50, Tuesday night (Feb. 22) inside the Convocation Center. 
 
Vander Plas' (Ripon, Wis.) triple double is the fourth in Ohio men's basketball history (Jason Preston (2) DJ Cooper (1)) and the sixth in Ohio basketball history (Cece Hooks (1), Erica Johnson (1)). 
 
"I mean to be able to have Jay (Preston) in the Convo to see that was pretty special," Vander Plas said. "I was just trying to emulate his game as much as I could tonight. That's what I was trying to do."
 
Schmock (Cleveland, Ohio) finished with 23 points, going 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-14 from three, he also grabbed three rebounds and dished out one assists. Vander Plas finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while redshirt fifth year forward Jason Carter (Johnstown, Ohio) added 12 points and eight rebounds. Junior forward Ben Roderick (Powell, Ohio) scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. Sophomore guard Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) finished with eight points, five rebounds and seven assists. 
 
"I really loved our response from Friday night's game," head coach Jeff Boals said. "Thought our guys came out with great energy and juice and continued that for 40 minutes, which is the response that you want to see. And I thought our defensive effort was phenomenal. They were active. They made it hard for them. They run some great offense and Miller hurt us in game one and he's been playing well. I thought our defense created some offense and we got some run outs, did a great job sharing a basketball against their zone. 23 assists on 27 baskets is very selfless and just a great team win."
 
Overall, Ohio shot 45.8 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from three and 60.0 percent from the line, while CMU shot 31.3 percent from the field, 18.2 percent from three and 50 percent from the line. Ohio outrebounded CMU, 43-42, while the Bobcats dished out 23 assists compared to CMU's eight. 
 
CMU won the tip, but the Bobcats got on the board first with a free throw from Sears and a layup from Roderick. After CMU cut the Ohio lead to 3-2, two free throws from Vander Plas gave the Bobcats a 5-2 lead going into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, CMU tied the game at 5-5 before a layup from freshman forward IJ Ezmua (Raleigh, N.C.) put the Bobcats back up two. However, a three from CMU gave Central Michigan a one-point lead with 11:32 left in the half. 
 
Out of the timeout, back-to-back threes from Schmock and freshman forward AJ Clayton (Duncan Falls, Ohio) and a layup from Sears pushed the Bobcats to a 15-12 lead with 7:41 remaining in the half. Out of the timeout, CMU cut the Ohio lead to one, but a three from Schmock out Ohio back up four. Central was able to cut the lead to one before a three from Vander Plas and a layup from Roderick gave Ohio a 23-17 lead going into the final media timeout. 
 
Out of the timeout, a layup from Roderick and another Schmock three with 2:53 left in the half increased the Ohio lead to 11, forcing CMU to call a timeout. Layups from CMU cut the Bobcats' lead to eight, but another three from Schmock and a layup from Sears gave Ohio a 33-22 lead going into the half. 
 
At the half, Ohio shot 43 percent from the field, 38 percent from three and were 3-of-5 from the line, while CMU shot 24 percent from three, 21 percent from three and were 3-of-4 from the line, CMU outrebounded Ohio 24-19, while Ohio dished out 11 assists the CMU's four. 
 
Individually, Schmock led the Bobcats with 12 points, going 4-of-7 from three, while Roderick added six points and Vander Plas added five points with five assists and six rebounds. 
 
The Bobcats opened the second half with a layup from Roderick and a three from junior fuard Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.), putting the Bobcats up 38-22 and forcing CMU to burn a timeout with 17:43 left in the game. After CMU got a layup, the Bobcats increased their lead with two free throws from Carter and back-to-back layups from Brown and Roderick, giving the Bobcats a 44-26 lead with 15:19 left in the game. 
 
After Carter free throws increased the Ohio lead to 20, CMU was able to cut the Bobcats lead to 13 with 12:08 left in the game. However, back-to-back threes from Schmock put the Bobcats back up 16 with 11:40 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout, the Bobcats offense sprung to life, going on a 15-4 run that included a Vander Plas dunk and a deep three from Schmock to give the Bobcats a 27-point lead with 7:33 remaining in the game. 
 
Out of the timeout, Ohio added on, taking a 73-43 lead going into the final media timeout. Out of the timeout, sophomore forward Sam Towns (Columbus, Ohio) got on the board thanks to a Vander Plas assist that secured the triple double and the 76-50 victory. 
 
For CMU, Ralph Bissainthe led with 12 points, while Kevin Miller and Brian Taylor both had 11 points. 
 
"Awesome crowd is always," Boals said. "I'm looking forward to Friday night's game. Hopefully have another great crowd and it should be a great game national TV."
 
Up next, the Bobcats return to action on the Convo for the final time during the 2021-22 season on Friday, Feb. 25 against Akron. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. and can be seen on CBS Sports Network. It will also be Senior Night. 
 
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