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NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Ohio men’s basketball team (2-2) opened play at the 2023 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship Friday night (Nov. 25), falling, 99-94, to George Washington (5-0) in a double overtime thriller.
Ohio falls to 68-49 all-time in overtime games, 8-6 in neutral site OT games and are now 8-8 in double overtime games. This was the first double OT game for the Bobcats since Feb. 3, 2018 against Central Michigan.
Overall, Ohio was led by senior guard Jaylin Hunter (Manchester, Conn.) with 25 points, going 9-of-22 from the field, 1-of-9 from three and 6-of-9 from the line. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists in 42 minutes. Graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell (Omaha, Neb.) finished with a career-high 23 points, going 8-of-15 from the field, 3-of-7 from three, while also grabbing six rebounds. Junior forward AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio) added 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds and a career-high five blocks, while sophomore guard AJ Brown (Orlando, Fla.) added 13 points, while sophomore guard Elmore James (Cleveland, Ohio) grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
Overall, Ohio shot 44 percent from the field, 27 percent from three and were 15-of-25 from the line, while GW shot 47 percent from the field, 41 percent from three and were 21-of-27 from the line. Ohio outrebounded GW, 42-40, while Ohio had seven blocks, eight steals and eight assists.
George Washington won the tip and got on the board first. After back-to-back layups from Hunter and Brown put the Bobcats ahead by one, the two teams traded baskets before a three from Clayton tied the game at 7-7. With the game knotted at 10, GW went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-10 lead going into the first media timeout. George Washington went on to take a six-point lead, before a three from sophomore guard Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) cut the deficit to three with 11:33 remaining in the first half.
Out of the timeout, and 8-2 run by the Bobcats gave them their first lead of the game, sending it to the under-eight media timeout with Ohio leading 26-23. Out of the timeout, GW went on an 11-0 run to take a 34-26 lead, forcing Ohio to call a timeout with 5:03 remaining in the first half. After Hunter stopped the run, another jumper from GW put the Ohio deficit back to eight going into the final media timeout.
Over the remaining three minutes, the Bobcats were able to capitalize on some layups, however, GW matched them with threes, giving George Washington a 44-34 lead at the half.
At the half, Ohio shot 47 percent from the field, 18 percent from three and were 2-of-3 from the line, while GW shot 53 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and were 2-of-2 from the line. Both teams were tied with 16 rebounds each, while Ohio forced nine turnovers.
Individually, Hunter had 11 first half points, while James added five rebounds.
Clayton opened the second half with a three, followed by free throws from Hunter and Brown, cutting the Bobcats’ deficit to five with 17:57 remaining in the second half. Both teams then traded baskets, with George Washington going back up eight entering the first media timeout.
A three from Sheldon and a layup from senior center Gabe Wiznitzer (Walhalla, S.C.) cut the Ohio deficit to three with 14:51 to go. George Washington went on a 4-0 run, going up seven.
After a jumper from Hunter cut the deficit back to five, two free throws from GW gave them a 55-48 lead with 11:37 remaining in regulation.
After GW went back up nine, Ohio went on a 6-0 run with layups from Clayton, redshirt sophomore guard Ike Cornish (Baltimore, Md.) and Mitchell, cutting the deficit to three with 8:47 remaining. Moments later a three from GW put them back up six, but a layup from Hunter helped cut the deficit to 63-58 with 7:45 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Ohio caught fire from beyond the arch, with one from brown, then back-to-back threes from Mitchell and another from Hunter to put Ohio up 70-67 with 3:52 remaining in regulation. After a free throw gave Ohio a four-point lead, a three from GW cut the Bobcats’ lead to one. However, a free throw and a layup from Brown put Ohio back up 74-70 with 1:46 to go. GW was able to hit four free throws down the stretch to tie the game at 74-74, sending the game to overtime.
Ohio got the first points in overtime with a layup and a free throw from Hunter. After GW cut the lead to one, another three from Mitchell put the Bobcats back up four with 3:17 remaining. A 5-0 run from GW put them up one. After both teams traded baskets, a free throw from Hunter tied the game at 83-83 with 20 seconds to go. George Washington was unable to capitalize on the final shot, sending the game into the second overtime.
George Washington opened the second overtime period with two threes and a free throw to take a seven-point lead with 3:21 remaining. A free throw from Mitchell cut the deficit to six. Another floater from Mitchell cut the GW lead to four, however, George Washington matched it with a three to take a seven-point lead. However, four-straight free throws from Mitchell and Hunter cut the deficit to three with under a minute to go.
The Bobcats were able to get another layup from Mitchell and force a turnover, however, the Bobcats were unable to capitalize, ultimately falling by the final of 99-94.
For GW, James Bishop IV led with 28 points, followed by Darren Buchanan, Jr. with 25 points, and Maximus Edwards with 13 rebounds.
Up next, the Bobcats face off with Middle Tennessee (3-3) on Nov. 25 at 1:30 p.m. The game will be seen on FloHoops.
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