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ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio men's basketball team (0-1) got its season started on its home court at the Convocation Center on Monday (Nov. 3) against Arkansas State (1-0). After a game that came down to the final shot, the Bobcats would fall, 89-85.
"It's a growth process for us, we're obviously disappointed that we lost the game, I thought we should have won the game," Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said.
As a team, Ohio shot 49% from the field, including eight three-pointers made. The Bobcats forced 18 turnovers from the Red Wolves, scoring 15 points off them.
The Bobcats were led by a career day from senior forward Aidan Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.), who tallied a career-high 28 points to go along with a team-leading six rebounds. In his Bobcat debut, redshirt junior forward Javan Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) contributed 14 points and four rebounds. Ohio's other double-digit scorer was senior guard Jackson Paveletzke (Kimberly, Wis.), who tallied 16 points in his 39 minutes on the floor.
Hadaway scored five points in the game's first six minutes to give Ohio an early 12-9 lead. Neither team found much scoring in the first 10 minutes, as both defenses played at a high level.
The Bobcats saw their first real deficit of the night after a 15-1 Red Wolves run resulted in a 22-13 hole for Ohio. Redshirt senior forward Jalen Breath (Oklahoma City, Okla.), making his first appearance as a Bobcat, would stop the run with a contested bucket inside the paint.
That basket from Breath started a 20-0 run for the Bobcats that ended with Ohio holding a commanding 33-22 lead with under three minutes to play in the game's first half.
Going into the break, Ohio held a 39-32 lead over Arkansas State. After one half, the Bobcats were shooting 39% from the field and had already forced 15 turnovers while only turning the ball over four times themselves.
Hadaway's career day continued into the second half, as he scored seven of Ohio's first nine points coming out of halftime. Scoring picked up drastically for both teams in the second half, with each trading baskets back-and-forth for a majority of the first 10 minutes.
With 10 minutes to play, Ohio held a slim 66-61 lead over Arkansas State.
Going into the under-eight media timeout, Simmons made an impressive and-one play underneath the basket that not only gave Ohio a 72-68 lead but also sparked life into The Convo crowd.
Arkansas State wouldn't go away easily, however, as it continued to match almost everything Ohio was doing on the other end. With under four minutes to play, the two teams were tied at 75 despite Ohio holding the lead for almost the entire half up to that point.
The Red Wolves pulled away in the game's final three minutes to take an 89-85 win from Ohio.
"We knew coming in that our non-conference schedule was really, really challenging," Boals said. "We just have to keep growing from this, keep learning and not make the same mistakes."
The Bobcats will be back this Thursday, Nov. 6, when they take on Illinois State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center and can be seen on ESPN+.
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