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ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio men's basketball team (2-1) defeated Detroit Mercy (0-4), 71-52, inside the Convocation Center on Saturday, Nov. 18. The 19-point win was Ohio's largest over Detroit Mercy since it last defeated the Titans in 2019. It was also the largest point differential for Ohio since it beat Bowling Green in early March of last season.
Ohio earned a quick boost of confidence in the first half after junior AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio) knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give his team a permanent lead. Clayton lead the team in scoring with 18 points and shot 6-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line. It was Clayton's third game in a row with double-digit points.
Right behind Clayton was senior guard Jaylin Hunter, who reached 1,000 career points during the second half. His magic number came on a breakaway dunk with an assist from redshirt sophomore Ike Cornish (Baltimore, Md.). Hunter also snagged a single-game high in rebounds with 10 to mark his first career double-double.
"Honestly, it didn't hit me until I looked at the jumbotron and they said I had 1,000 points," Hunter said. "The first thing that went to my mind was just like how thankful I am for my teammates, transferring to Ohio and just meeting such a great group group of guys and coaches to help me be successful."
Two other Bobcats reached milestones on Saturday. Cornish's 12 points marked a new single-game high for the first-year Bobcat. He shot 4-for-9 from the field and went 2-for-2 at the line. Also, redshirt sophomore
Ben Estis (Southlake, Texas) played in his first game and went 1-for-2 from the line.
The Bobcats paired their sharp shooting with tenacious defense to secure the win. Their goal was to keep the Titan's leading scorer, Jayden Stone, out of scoring range.
"He really hurt us last year. With the games that he's had already this year, we wanted to try to make it as difficult as possible for him to be a high volume shooter and a low volume scorer and to hold him to a 4-for-17 and 3-for-14," Boals said. "It was multiple guys. They did a lot of handoffs and ball screens, so we switched a lot to try to make him work and earn it. 23 is a really good player, (Edoardo) Del Cadia. To hold him 3-for-11 I thought our defense was really really good."
Ohio forced Del Cadia into six turnovers and Detroit Mercy into 15 overall. Transition had been a major focus for Ohio over the past three games, and defensive rebounds helped it improve upon that. Of Ohio's 42 total rebounds on Saturday, 31 were defensive.
The strong defense allowed Ohio to maintain at least a seven-point lead throughout the entire second half. It even worked its way up to a 22-point lead with just under two minutes to go.
The win helped the Bobcats get over .500 and gave them the juice they need before heading to Nassau, The Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship. Ohio is set to take on George Washington at 7 p.m. on Nov. 24.
#OUOhyeah
