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The 3rd seed Ohio Bobcats would score the first points of the night against the sixth seed Ball State thanks to a three by Mark sears. Ohio would be the first to score, Ball State would be the first to obtain a lead while Ohio fights from behind.
Tyler Cochran and Payton Sparks have scored six and four points respectively to start the game.
Myles Brown would tie the game up early on as he would start off hot from seep going 2-2 from three. Ohio would keep slipping behind Ball State, but the Bobcats would keep on fighting.
Ball Start would spread the love around to other members of the Cardinals in hopes to increase their lead. That’s exactly what it would do, increasing the margin to six. The offensive rebounds and quick transition offense would give the Cardinals a slight edge in the first half as they would try and push the pace when possible.
Both teams would go just about three minutes without scoring a point until Tommy Schmock hit a three for the Bobcats to break the cold streak by both teams.
Mark Sears would put together an impressive few possessions as he would nail two free throws get a steal and make a layup in transition to tie the ball game up at 26 with four minutes left. Sears would then get the assist off the three-point basket from Ben Vander Plas.
But wait there’s more, Sears hits a three from deep to make the lead 32-26 for the Bobcats as they go on a run to steal the lead from the Cardinals.
Ball State wouldn’t just let Ohio run away with it, a few stops and a three-point shot from Thomas would make this a two-point ball game with under a minute left in the half.
The Bobcats would get the stop and run down the court making as Schmock would give a fancy pass to Jason Carter for the two-handed flush. Ball State would respond with under ten seconds from a three-point shot from Tyler Cochran.
This would make the score 36-35 in favor of Ohio.
Tyler Cochran would be the leader for Ball State in the first half scoring 11 points off 4-9 scoring. Mark Sears would lead the Bobcats with 13 points off 5-11 and sweetened with six first half rebounds.
Ohio would strike first in the second half due to a layup from Jason Carter then a three point make by Ben Roderick. Vander Plas would make a three of his own as the Bobcats would start off the half as hot as could be.
The score would be 44-35 as the Cardinals would remain scoreless until Thomas would finally respond with a three to only be down by eight.
Ball State would struggle to score, so would Ohio, as both teams would struggle to score, the defense would be nearly unbreakable as the offensive pace seemed to be the slowest, we’ve seen from either team since the start of the game.
As Ball State tried climbing back into the game, Searswould prove once again that he is one of the best facilitators on the court as he hit a euro step leaped toward the rim to turn around and give the pass to Carter for the jam.
The Bob Cats would continue to run away with the game as they would increase their lead by 21 points thanks to a three-point shot from Sears.
The Bobcats lead would continue to increase, the Cardinals offense could not keep up and their defense couldn’t get a stop. The Bobcats will cruise to a win with a final score of 77-67
The top player for the Ball State Cardinals is Tyler Cochran, he will finish with 16 points off 6-15 scoring from the field.
The player of the game for the Bobcats was the Sophomore stud guard Mark Sears who was lights out on both ends of the court. He would finish with 24 points off 7-15 shooting with 10 rebounds. Another Bobcat to highlight is Senior big man Jason Carter who dominated downlow all game. He finished with 20 points off 9-14 with an incredible 18 rebounds.
Ohio will play Kent State in the Semifinal round for the right to play in the MAC championship.
