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ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio men's basketball team (7-7, 1-1 MAC) defeated Northern Illinois (6-8, 0-2 MAC) 78-66 Saturday afternoon (Jan. 6) for its first Mid-American Conference win of the season.
Ohio's goal going into the weekend matchup was to limit its fouls. The past few games, the Bobcats lost points at the free throw line and Northern Illinois knew how to capitalize on those moments. Northern Illinois came into the game shooting over 20 free throws a game, and Ohio limited the Huskies to 10. Ohio also had the least fouls its had since mid-November with 13.
Keeping the Huskies off the line allowed Ohio to recover when it started slow. It took Ohio until four minutes into the first half to score, when sophomore forward Aidan Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.) put Ohio on the board with a jumper and senior guard Jaylin Hunter (Manchester, Conn.) added on two points from free throws. However, the slow attitude stuck as Ohio fell behind in the first half.
The Huskies didn't get far, though, because the Bobcats turned up their defense toward the middle of the half. Sophomore guard Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) blocked a shot from David Coit and took the rebound all the way to the net. Another jumper from Sheldon with less than two minutes to go gave Ohio its first lead of the game, but Northern Illinois didn't let it last long.
Ohio was ready to walk into halftime with a tie and it seemed to be in the cards until Quaran Mcpherson made a buzzer-beater from half court to reclaim the lead.
"(Going into the second half,) we knew that some of the points that they scored on early, it was just little things," Hunter said. "Like, if we don't do this in the second half, they won't score any. We were giving up points kind of that we gave them, not that they earned."
Something clicked for the Bobcats in the second half. They went on a 14-3 run out of the gate, highlighted by a put-back layup from graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell (Omaha, Neb.), originally shot on a steal and assist from Hunter.
The Bobcats improved their game top to bottom, led by junior forward AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio). Clayton scored 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting in the second half alone and tied his career high on a dunk with under two minutes to go.
"I was just hoping Jaylin threw it," Clayton said with a laugh. "We talk about throwing lobs all the time in practice."
Clayton led Ohio in points overall with 23 on 9-for-13 from the field, including three 3-pointers, and a perfect 2-for-2 from the line. Hunter followed him with 20 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 performance beyond the arc and 8-for-8 at the line. Hunter also tied with Mitchell for the most assists Saturday evening with six a piece.
As a team, the Bobcats shot above 50% for the first time since mid-December. They have shot 50% or above five times this season thus far. Also, the Bobcats shot above 40% from the 3-point line for the fourth time this season.
"I thought it was a great team win with great energy," head coach Jeff Boals said. "We had eight scholarship guys available to play and all eight contributed. We are really proud of the effort."
Ohio will be back in action on Tuesday (Jan. 9) against Bowling Green at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
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