MAC Tournament Semifinals: #4 Miami vs #9 Ohio
“There are three constants in life, death, taxed and Ohio vs Miami in the MAC Tournament,” a wise man once said, and while it may not be an exact every year match-up, it sure feels that way. The Ohio Bobcats and Miami RedHawks will meet in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland once again, for the 7th time in 10 years, for the latest chapter in this storied rivalry.
The 2010 MAC Basketball Tournament continues with the second semifinal game on Friday night featuring the #4 seed Miami RedHawks (14-17) facing the #9 seed Ohio Bobcats (19-14). Miami topped Buffalo in the nightcap on Thursday as they fought off the Bulls’ charge for a 73-59 win. The RedHawks went 9-7 in MAC play this season. The Bobcats scored the most surprising, and the most lopsided, win of the Quarterfinals defeating 2010 NCAA Tournament bubble team Kent State by a score of 81-64. Despite a 7-9 MAC record, the young Bobcats have bounced back nicely from their 0-4 start in MAC play.
The live blog of Ohio vs Miami will begin tonight just before tipoff at about 9:30 pm ET. In addition, check out the live Twitter updates of the 2010 MAC Tournament provided by VanDelay Sports and all of the MAC Tournament tagged updates on Twitter.
So what did we learn on these two teams yesterday…
Armon Bassett was the story for OU. He showed up in a big way for the Bobcats with 38 points. Gotta wonder if he has anything close to that in him tonight. Devon Washington was the other major guy for the Bobcats with 19 points and 8 rebounds. The Bobcats were up on Kent by 16 at one point. The Golden Flashes closed it to 3 on a couple of occasions in the 2nd half, but couldn’t get it any closer than that.
Miami came out against Buffalo pretty well, immediately opening a seemingly insurmountable lead. As we saw in all the games yesterday though, the MAC has disparity this season, and once the RedHawks went cold from the field Buffalo was able to cut it to 2, but couldn’t get any closer, letting Miami pull away in the final few minutes.
I’m watching the guards in this one. DJ Cooper has been fantastic all season, but was quiet with foul trouble last night. It’ll be interesting to see if Armon Bassett can have a game even remotely on the same level as he did last night. On the other side I think Kenny Hayes is key for Miami. The RedHawks, per usual have a spread scoring attack, but guards who can dribble-penetrate can give the Bobcats trouble, and I look for Hayes to have a big game.
Like last night, tempo could be key in this one. OU forced Kent to play at an upspeed tempo out of the gates which isn’t their style. Miami is a classic slow-it-down team, who will try to dictate the pace. Ohio can struggle scoring in the half court and needs to run to give itself good scoring opportunities.
20:00 - After his big game yesterday Devo is starting, he wins the tip and hits a quick uncontested layup. That’ll work.
18:59 - What’d I say? Kenny Hayes right to the hoop for a layup.
17:30 - Tommy Freeman draws back to back charges… beautiful defense.
17:12 - 5-2 OU leads early. A little press from OU, giving Miami trouble… And another MU player control foul. About 4 Bobcats took that one, not sure if Freeman gets credit or not.
14:46 - 8-2 OU, and they’ve had a couple of good looks that they couldn’t get to fall. Miami not executing well on offense early… 3 player control fouls in 3 consecutive possessions will do that to you though.
13:37 - There’s your 4th player control foul, this time KVK draws it… This can’t be an accident, OU had to see something on film, right?
11:50 - 5th player control foul. OU leads 12-2, though when you can’t shoot because you commit a control foul everytime down the floor I think that’s what happens.
8:35 - OU suddenly looking really flat on offense, 3 straight possessions with bad shots.
7:33 - Miami hammers Bassett on a 3-pt attempt and there’s no call… err, there is about 3 beats later than usual. Strange. Both fanbases are upset. OU leads 12-7. Van Kempen 1-5 for Ohio, his value is not in his shooting, probably shouldn’t be taking anymore three’s this game. Miami’s D has started to look good, really pestering OU in their halfcourt sets and giving them some major issues finding any good shots. This one could be a war.
5:39 - 14-7 OU… Ohio having a lot of trouble figuring out Miami’s defense in the halfcourt. They need to find Freeman some shots, which of course is a little tough when he’s on the bench. Definitely playing a Miami-paced game right now.
4:49 - Miami can’t buy a bucket in close on 2 or 3 chances. Brutal.
3:39 - Miami with 7 turnovers, OU with none… Neither team shooting better than 30%, that’s your difference. OU leads 17-7 and Bassett keeps finding ways to get to the line. He’ll be back there when we return.
3:24 - Ou presses off the made FT, steal, layup, wave it off, OU now with a player control foul.
2:12 - Look at that time, now the score of 21-9… Miami’s fingerprints all over this.
0:30 - Miami 3, Bassett can’t answer. Baltic steal, and OU will hold for the last shot. And a travel by Baltic gives Miami the ball with 7 seconds.
A microcosm of the first half, Miami misses an open 3 and we’ll go to the half 21-12. You read that right… TWENTY-ONE TO TWELVE.
Halftime - The difference here is that OU has gotten to the line, OU has won the turnover battle and neither team has shot worth a lick from the field. Weird game so far, second half should be interesting.
17:37 - 24-14 as Bassett hits a 3. Tommy Freeman got a couple of shots there, but couldn’t get them to fall. Charlie Coles not liking what he’s seeing immediately and takes a quick timeout.
And Nick “Vandelay” with his yearly rant on the size of the sticks that the drummer uses (he thinks they should be bigger, and posits that today’s drummers haven’t watched enough Megadeath.) Nice to have all the yearly rants out of the way.
15:52 - KVK excellent job chasing down a rebound, for my money he wants it more than anyone on the Bobcats team, he’s all about effort. 26-16 OU as Cooper drives into trouble, jumps without anywhere to go, and luckily bounces it out of bounds off a Miami player.
15:14 - Miami offensive rebounding keeping them in it. They have 8 offensive boards to OU’s 15 total. 9 of their 16 points are of the 2nd chance variety.
14:40 - 27-16, Ohio… Neither team shooting really well still, it’s anybody’s ball game, though OU controls.
13:36 - Devo with an 18 footer, Hayes answers with a 3… Most scoring we’ve seen in 1 minute all game.
12:41 - DJ Cooper gets to the hoop, can’t finish, Devo follows. 31-19 OU.
12:11 - Washington blocks a Winbush putback attempt. DJ Cooper with a no look pass, Devo with a reverse dunk… Crowd goes wild.
12:03 - Baltic with pressure on the inbounds and Miami has to take a TO because they can’t inbound it. Miami’s on the ropes here. They need a bucket. And Ballard gets it with a 3. OU leads 33-22.
10:32 - Bassett only shooting 3-9 but he’s getting to the line and has 16 points. Devo coming up big with 13 points on 6-8 shooting with 4 boards and a block.
10:12 - Hayes makes 2 at the line, but now Winbush sends Bassett back to the line which has been his favorite spot in Cleveland the past two days.
9:46 - And Bassett back to the line. 35-24 OU leads… Bassett makes both, 37 for OU now.
8:49 - KVK with an excellent pick, Bassett buries the open 18 footer… that should count as an assist really.
7:06 - 41-26 OU taking control… a couple of pretty offensive sequences from OU, Cooper with a dish to KVK who put in a simple lay-in last time down.
6:30 - Off a Miami miss, Cooper finds Devo, who goes through a defender to finish a 2-handed dunk and a foul! He’s had some ridiculous dunks over the past two days.
5:31 - OU with an offensive board. Sets the offensive back up, finds KVK for an open 18-footer… swich. Up 20, you can sticka fork in Miami at this point.
3:53 - Soderberg with back to back 3’s cuts the OU lead from 20 to 14. OU still leads 46-32, file this in the “too little too late” department.
2:02 - Miami with a couple of good possessions and they’ve cut it to 10 points… did I speak too soon on the too little too late quip? Groce wants a timeout. OU needs to work their offense again and stop worrying about the clock. Once they went up 20 they started running slowdown and it’s cost them.
1:30 - Cooper misses the front end… recipe for disaster continues… Kenny Hayes steps on the sideline, nice D by Bassett, he’s been doing everything the past 2 days.
1:03 - OU 48-38, OU with a timeout, Miami running out of time, it would take something remarkable from here.
Bassett misses the front-end… Poor FT shooting keeping Miami with one last gasp. Fletcher with a quick lay-in and it’s an 8 point game with 43 seconds left.
:43 - Bassett makes both and up 10 the Bobcats should have them here… Fletcher lays one in, back to 8 with 31 seconds left.
:28 - The Ozone just called this one, with the winning team losing team chant.
:22 - Miami not done fouling though.
Nick “VanDelay” predicting an Ohio win over Akron tomorrow… adamantly. I’m less confident, should be a fun game though.
Ohio wins 54-42. See you tomorrow.
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