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ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio men's basketball team defeated Defiance 108-28 in The Convo on Monday night (Dec. 18).
"I'm proud of our guys for playing the game the right way. In a game like this, they did what they were supposed to do how they were supposed to do it. Coming in, we wanted to win No. 1, after the two losses at home," Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said.
Ohio's win was a team-effort as it set a new record for assists in a game with 31. Senior guard Jaylin Hunter (Manchester, Conn.) contributed nine of the 31, with sophomore guards Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) and Elmore James (Cleveland, Ohio) adding on five each.
All 11 Bobcats who played scored, with six in double-digits. Junior guard AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio) led the team with 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field. Redshirt sophomore forward/guard Ike Cornish (Baltimore, Md..) followed with a career-high 13 points. Cornish also doubled his season total in rebounds on Monday with seven. Cornish feels that he has developed a lot since his first game in an Ohio jersey.
"(I've grown) mentally and grown up and have understanding how the game goes. It's a long season, long year. You can't let little things bring you down and in big games, you can't let it get you too high. I feel that mentally, I've been growing and understanding that everyday, you've got to focus on every day, not on the next day, not yesterday, and just continue to get better every day," Cornish said.
Sophomore forward Aidan Hadaway (LaFayette, Ga.) scored 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in his first start for Ohio. Hadaway previously scored in double-digits against Youngstown State on Dec. 6.
Redshirt Freshman Ben Estis (Southlake, Texas) also had a career day. He was one of three Bobcats to score 12 points. He also contributed five rebounds and one steal. The other two to score 12 points were Sophomore guard Quinn Corna (Columbus, Ohio) and senior guard Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.). Monday marked the first game Brown played in since November.
Corna also had a career night. His four 3-pointers helped guide Ohio to its best night from beyond the arc since it played Brown in late November. Ohio went 16-for-36 for a 44.4% shooting percentage with a majority of its 3-pointers from Corna and Clayton. Ohio made the fifth-most 3-pointers in a game in school history Monday night.
"QC and Ben off the bench, they do some amazing things for us in practice. They work super hard, so for them to get the opportunity super early in the first half to compete and play was just a testimony to our hard work and executing our game plan," Brown said.
The Bobcats were just as fierce on defense as they were offense. Senior center Gabe Wiznitzer (Walhalla, S.C.) snagged a season-high eight rebounds, six of which were defensive. The Bobcats totaled 50 rebounds compared to the Yellow Jackets' 20. The strong defense helped the Bobcats keep their opponent to the lowest point total in The Convo's history.
Ohio will be back in action on Dec. 22 at Austin Peay.
#OUOhyeah
