2016-17 MAC Men’s Basketball Recap: Ohio Bobcats vs. Bowling Green Falcons

The Ohio Bobcats took advantage of a Bowling Green Falcons team that was dealing with suspensions and was using football players to fill out the bench as it cruised to a 96-72 victory on the road Saturday night. Kenny Kaminsky and Jaaron Simmons carried the load for Ohio (13-6, 5-3 MAC) with 22 and 23 points respectively, while Jordan Dartis and Rodney Culver also had double-digit scoring nights.

Meanwhile, Bowling Green (8-13, 2-6 MAC) had a poor offensive night with 33.3% shooting from the field and went 7-34 from distance. Dylan Frye had himself a decent night with 24 points off of 9-17 from the floor. Football players Hunter Folkertsma and Teo Redding each saw five minutes of action as they combined for 11 points off the bench.

The Falcons were competitive in the early stages of the game as a Dylan Frye three-pointer gave BG an 8-5 lead with 17:34 left in the first half. The Bobcats then exploded on a 14-0 run as Simmons and Kaminski each had a pair of treys during the stretch with Simmons adding a layup. Bowling Green was unable to solve the riddle of the Ohio offense as the ‘Cats cruised to a 44-33 halftime lead.

OU was about as hot as an offense can be in the first half with 51.5% shooting from the field, including a staggering 9-16 from downtown. Dartis had a hard time missing for the Green and White as he had 16 points in the first 20 minutes thanks to his 4-5 shooting from three-point land. Meanwhile, BG had trouble doing much of anything on offense in the half as it shot 32.3% from the floor and was 3-15 from beyond the arc.

The second half was much like the first as Bowling Green never really threatened the Bobcat lead. Simmons and Kaminsky kept up their strong play as the former led all players with 13 points in the half while the latter went 4-5 on three-point attempts. The shooting pace for each team stayed about the same after the intermission as the ‘Cats had a 55.3% field goal percentage (9-19 on three-pointers) while BG could only muster 34.3% from the field.

This was a big win for the Bobcats as it is now in a four-way tie for the second-best record in the MAC with the other three teams coming from the West division. If OU can maintain its poise for the rest of the regular season, it could be sitting pretty for the MAC Tournament after everyone beats each other. For the Falcons, it’s hard to see them salvaging their season at this point.

Ohio returns to action Tuesday night when it travels to take on the Western Michigan Broncos at 6 p.m. while Bowling Green hosts the lowly Miami RedHawks at 7 p.m. that night.