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CLEVELAND – Behind a career high 18 rebounds from Jason Carter (Johnstown, Ohio), the Bobcats (24-8) defeated Ball State (14-17) in the quarterfinals of the 2022 MAC Tournament by a score of 77-67.

"it's great to be back in Cleveland," head coach Jeff Boals said. "it's something that we aim to do. It's one of our goals. You know, we kind of limped in the last two weeks of the season. And we took a couple days off, refreshed mentally and physically and had a great competitive spirit of practice on Monday. I thought our guys came out with the right mindset. The first probably say 14 minutes of the first half, it was kind of even. Then the second half, I thought we came out with it was great focus, and had that stretch where we extended the lead and I thought our defense really did a great job of creating offense."
 
Overall, Ohio shot 43.5% from the field, 39.3% from beyond the arc, and went 12 of 16 from the charity stripe. The Bobcats' defense was able to limit Ball State's offense to just 35.3% shooting  overall and 33.3% from three. Ohio outrebounded the Cardinals 48-38. 
 
Carter finished the game with a double-double, scoring 20 points to go along with his 18 boards. Sophomore Mark Sears (Muscle Shoals, Ala.) led the Bobcats in scoring with 24 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the field, and recorded Ohio's second double-double of the game, finishing with 10 rebounds. Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) and Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) joined the double-digit scoring party, finishing with 14 and 13 points respectively. 

"Jason Carter came back here for a reason and that was to go to the NCAA Tournament", Boals said. "Tonight hhe played like it. Mark Sears was awesome. Double double and five offensive rebounds. But great effort by guys." 
 
Ball State won the tip, but Ohio got on the board first with a three from Brown. After Ball State got on the board with a layup, Ohio took a 5-2 lead on a jumper from Carter. After that, Ball State went on a 10-2 run to take a 12-7 lead going into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, free throws from Carter and a three from Brown tied the game at 12-12. After a free throw from Sears gave Ohio a one-point lead. However, Ball State took a 16-16 lead before a layup from Sears cut the Cardinals lead to one. However, Ball State went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-15 lead with 11:36 remaining in the first half. 
 
Out of the timeout, Schmock drained a three to cut the deficit to 21-18. However, Ball State was able to get a layup to take a 23-18 lead going into the under-eight media timeout. Out of the timeout, Ohio responded. After another three from Brown cut the Ball State lead to two, the Cardinals drained another three. However, five-straight points from Sears, followed by back-to-back threes from Sears and Vander Plas gave Ohio a 32-26 lead with 3:40 left in the first half. 
 
Out of the timeout, Ball State cut the Ohio lead to 32-29 before another layup from Sears put the Bobcats back up five with 1:57 left. After Ball State cut the lead to two with a three a dunk from Carter out Ohio back up four, however a three from Ball State with under 10 seconds to go in the half gave the Bobcats a 36-35 lead going into the half.
 
At the half, Ohio shot 40.6 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three and were 4-of-6 from the line, while Ball State shot 41.2 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and were 1-of-4 from the line. Bother teams grabbed 21 rebounds, while the Bobcats dished out six assists to Ball State's four. 
 
Individually, Sears led the Bobcats with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Brown added nine points with three made threes. Carter added eight points and seven rebounds. 

"A major thing coming into the game was rebounding," Carter said ."Especially towards the end of the season, like the last couple of games are, my rebounding hasn't been well. These guys tell me all the time, like we got to rebound and, you know,just sometimes the ball bounces your way too. You got to get a little lucky. But you got to crash hard every time and that was a big, big part of what we did."
" 
The Bobcats opened the second half with eight-straight points, including back-to-back threes from Roderick and Vander Plas, giving Ohio a 44-35 lead and forcing Ball State to call a timeout with 18:25 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout a layup from Vander Plas gave Ohio a 13-point lead, however Ball State was able to hit a three to stop the run, cutting the Ohio lead to 46-38 with 15:39 remaining in the game. 
 
Out of the timeout, a jumper from Carter put the Bobcats back up 11, however, a Ball State layup cut the lead to nine with 14:01 remaining. Two more layups from Carter and a layup from Vander Plas gave the Bobcats a 55-44 lead with 11:11 left in the game. Out of the timeout, Ball State cut the Ohio lead to four, however a layup from Carter out the Bobcats up six with 8:48 to go. However, after Ball State called a timeout, Ohio came out firing with a dunk from Carter and a layup from Brown to give Ohio a 61-51 lead with 7:29 remaining in the game. 
 
Out of the timeout, the Bobcats went on an 11-0 run, including free throws from Sears and Brown and back-to-back threes from Sears to give the Bobcats a 72-51 lead with 6:09 remaining in the game. 
 
After Ball State cut the Ohio lead to 20, a deep three from Vander Plas after an offensive rebound from Carter gave the Bobcats a 75-54 lead with 2:47 remaining. Ohio went on to finish off the 77-67 victory, advancing to the semifinals on Friday night (March 11). 

 "I thought Bobcat nation showed up tonight like they always do," Boals said. "Looking forward to tomorrow night's semifinal game. Probably should have even more Bobcats in the stands, but really proud of our guys." effort.
 
Ball State was led by Payton Sparks, who finished with a double-double of his own, scoring 20 points and securing 14 rebounds. Tyler Cochran also scored in double figures, contributing 16 points. 
 
Up Next:
Ohio will take on Kent State in the second semifinal game of the evening on Friday night (March 11) inside Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Tip-off is scheduled for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game. 

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