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ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio men’s basketball team got the jitters out of the way in its first week of play.
Ohio tested the waters in an exhibition against Otterbein on Nov. 2, in which it won 67-49. Senior guard Jaylin Hunter led Ohio with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, while sophomore guard AJ Brown tacked on 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Ohio relied on its guards during the exhibition overall.
“We’re pretty guard oriented team, so pushing the transition, getting the ball up and then also on focusing on rebounding more finding body and pursuing and just moving the ball around as well. So making an extra pass, passing up a good shot for a great shot,” Brown said.
The exhibition was the perfect way for the Bobcats to re-acclimate to playing in front of a crowd before their first game at home the next week. Every possession mattered from that point on. The Bobcats needed to take care of the ball better and try not to force anything when the real pressure was on.
Ohio knew that if it paid attention to the small details against Troy on Nov. 8, things could go well. It couldn’t let mistakes take control of the game.
After they jumped out to a seven-point lead, the Bobcats were in business. The energy from the crowd and the bench lead the Bobcats on a surge through the first half.
“Troy was just a different game, I mean Elmore started off hot and ended off hot. I did too,” Brown said. “Everything was going right. That was a game where we were the tougher team. We were home so we had all the energy in the world.”
Brown ended the night with 24 points, six rebounds and four steals. Sophomore guard Elmore James (Cleveland, Ohio) followed him with 20 points, six rebounds and two steals. Five Bobcats ended the night perfect from the line, including Hunter, James, junior forward AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio), fifth year guard Miles Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell (Omaha, Neb.)
Ohio left for Cleveland State with confidence that it could return with home with a win. It needed to bring the same intensity it had at home to the Wolstein Center.
The Bobcats held a two-point lead at the half, however the Vikings outscored them 44 to 38 in the second half to take a 82-78 victory.
With the first week of the season under his belt, Brown knows what he wants to work on for the road ahead. He wants to be a stronger vocal leader.
“I think being more of a leader leading by example is also speaking up to when I see some things that are wrong or some things that we can improve on as a team, probably speak to my teammates speak to the coaches,” Brown said. “I want to lead and just encourage everybody to do their best and lift teammates up when they’re feeling down. I want to be that guy on the bench that brings the energy or just be that positive person that I usually am to bring the morale of the team up, especially in the game with Cleveland State.”
There’s still a lot of schedule to go for Brown and the Bobcats, though. They’ve got time to improve and work on their game plan before they hit the heart of the schedule.
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