By Stretch Jenkinson
GAMEBOOK
https://ohiobobcats.com/documents/2024/1/2/Ohio77_Tol86.PDF
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ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio men’s basketball team fell to Toledo 86-77 in its Mid-American Conference opener on Tuesday (Jan. 2).
“The tone was set in the first four minutes of really each each half. In the first four minutes, we missed the last couple of free throws, and they turned those into points. We were down 13-0 early and had take a timeout, then I really thought that was a big piece of the game. We battled the rest of the game,” head coach Jeff Boals said. Even the second half of its turn, started talking about the urgency to come out, you know, set the tone in the second half.”
Ohio struggled to get points in the paint during Toledo’s run, but Sophomore forward Aidan Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.) sparked the offense with a dunk to end Toledo’s run. After that, Ohio went on a 13-2 run powered by sophomore guard Elmore James (Cleveland, Ohio) and graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell.
James led the Bobcats in scoring with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting on Tuesday night. Mitchell followed him with 16 points on a 7-for-13 mark. Both went 2-for-2 in free throws.
Ohio even took its lone lead of the night on a 3-pointer by junior forward AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio) with just under 10 minutes left in the half, but Toledo reclaimed a six-point lead by the end despite missing all of its 3-point attempts in the half.
The Rockets retained their speed in the second half, which left the Bobcats in a frenzy. The Bobcats had a lot of ground they needed to cover in order to touch the Rockets’ lead, which had not fallen below five points in the half.
Sophomore guard Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) set a new career high for points on a 3-pointer with eight minutes to go in the second half. Sheldon’s previous high was seven points, which he set in November and tied twice more this season. He finished with 13 points on Tuesday night and went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Sheldon has Ohio’s second-best 3-point percentage on the season with a 52.4%.
“He probably deserves more minutes than he’s gotten, and he’ll probably continue to get get minutes. He’s earned it,” Boals said. “He’s shot the ball extremely well, he’s probably shooting 55% from three, you know, he puts the time and effort into it. He was a bright spot tonight.”
As a team, Ohio shot 57% from the field and it eclipsed Toledo in 3-point shooting with a 8-for-25 performance. However Toledo finished with a better field goal percentage due to its 23-for-31 free throw shooting compared to Ohio’s 13-for-21.
The Bobcats’ shooting was aided by its rebounding performance. Not a single Bobcat finished the game without less than two rebounds. James and Mitchell once again led the way with eight and six each, respectively.
Ohio will be back in action on January 6 against Northern Illinois. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. in The Convo.
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