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ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio men's basketball team (14-13, 8-6 MAC) got back in the win column Tuesday night (Feb. 17) inside the Convocation Center against Ball State (8-18, 3-10 MAC). A gritty game that included a 23-2 Ohio run, resulted in a 69-57 win in favor of the Bobcats.
"We had two really good days of prep coming into this game, and we knew they were going to play hard and compete for 40 minutes," Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said. "The last couple of games, I think they've taken Buffalo and Kent State down to the wire. So, give our guys credit. We didn't start the second half ideally, but we bent, and we didn't break."
As a team, the Bobcats shot 42.3 percent from the field with eight made threes. Ohio forced nine turnovers against Ball State, while grabbing 34 rebounds.
Senior forward Aidan Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.) and senior guard Jackson Paveletzke (Kimberly, Wis.) combined for the team lead in scoring with 18 points each. Hadaway would also lead the team with eight rebounds while Paveletzke tallied a game-high eight assists. Senior guard Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) was the other Bobcat to reach double figures as he recorded 12 with three made threes. Redshirt junior forward Javan Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) contributed to the win in a number of different ways with nine points, five rebounds and two assists.
"I try and just attack, trying to find ways to get to the line," Paveletzke said. "That's usually a way to get two free points, but the shots weren't falling for a majority of the game for me, but I was just still trying to stay aggressive and take what the defense gives."
The Bobcats got the scoring started in dramatic fashion as Hadaway lobbed the ball up to Kelly, who converted the basket with a one-handed alley-oop slam. After five minutes, Ohio and Ball State were tied at nine.
After an extended scoring drought, the Bobcats caught fire to end the half, outscoring Ball State 23-2 across the final 7:13 of the half. In that span, the Ohio defense forced five turnovers while its offense knocked down five total threes to take a double-digit lead into the half.
Kelly, Hadaway and Sheldon combined for three-straight threes during the scoring run while the team scored five field goals off an assist.
At halftime, Hadaway led the Bobcats with 10 points, including two threes as well as a team-leading four rebounds. Ohio led Ball State 32-15 at the break.
The Bobcats continued to be consistent on both ends of the floor in the second half as they maintained their double-digit lead at 40-30 with under 12 minutes to play.
Back-to-back possessions with a three, thanks to Sheldon and Hadaway, would help keep the Bobcats in front as time ticked down in the half. Despite the Cardinals cutting it to single digits, Ohio roared back to take a 51-38 lead with 8:14 to go.
The two teams would trade baskets through the closing minutes of the half, but the Ohio defense was too good for Ball State to mount any sort of comeback. Going into the game's final three minutes, Ohio held onto a 62-51 lead.
The Bobcats held on in the game's final minutes to take the win 69-57.
Next up, the Bobcats will go on the road for a rematch with Northern Illinois this Saturday, February 21. That game will tipoff at 3 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN+.
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