ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University mens basketball team (25-12) saw its season come to an end in a hard-fought 92-90 loss to Virginia Military Institute in the CollegeInsider Postseason Quarterfinals on Wednesday (March 26) at the Convocation Center. Senior guard Nick Kellogg (Westerville, Ohio) poured in a career-high 30 points in his final game as a Bobcat. He matched his career-high in three-pointers by knocking down six. Junior forward Maurice Ndour (Mbour, Senegal) finished two points shy of matching his career high, totaling 26 points. Ndour knocked down a career-best 12-of-13 field goal attempts and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Javarez Willis (Homer, La.) tallied 13 points. He also dished out a game-high six assists to match his career high. Ohio used a hot start from Ndour to jump out to a 17-point lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half. The junior post player totaled 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting while the `Cats defense limited the Keydets to just 32.4% from the field to take a 46-39 advantage into the break. VMI opened the second stanza on a 20-13 run to tie the contest at 59-all with 11:36 left in regulation. The Keydets went on a 27-15 tear over the next seven minutes to grab their largest advantage of the game (84-72) with just under four minutes to play. The Bobcats clawed their way back, though. Ohio used two layups by Ndour, a layup by Willis and two free throws by Kellogg to shave the deficit to six points (86-80) with 2:13 to go. A trey by Kellogg with just under two to play put an exclamation point on the 11-2 run that pulled Ohio to within three. The Keydets countered with a layup with 36 seconds left, but Willis drew a foul and sank both freebies to make it a three-point affair (88-85) with 20 seconds to play. Unfortunately for the `Cats, VMI capped a night off in which it shot 84.0% (21-of-25) from the charity stripe by sinking four free throws down the final stretch to seal the victory. Fittingly, Kellogg - the Mid-American Conferences all-time three-point king -- hit a trey at the buzzer to end his career. He posted 290 3-pointers in his four years in Athens. The Bobcat seniors will hang up their jerseys as the all-time winningest class in program history (97 career wins). Ohio finished the 2013-14 season with 25 victories for the third time in program history and made a school-record fifth-consecutive post-season tournament appearance - one of just six NCAA Division I schools to achieve the feat in football and mens basketball
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 08:24:21 +0000
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