March 9, 2008

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Ohio Bobcats vs. Buffalo Bulls

March 9, 2008

The Convocation Center - Athens, Ohio

Senior Day

PREGAME:

-          If the Bobcats defeat Buffalo, they earn the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament and a first-round bye.

-          Leon Williams needs just four boards to become second all-time in Ohio history in career rebounds.

-          Leon Williams needs eight made field goals to take over eighth all-time in program history.

-          The Bulls defeated Bowling Green 96-50 in their last game.

-          Ohio lost to Akron 80-77 in its last contest.

 FIRST HALF:

-          Buffalo's Brian Mulkey opened the game with a 3-pointer.

-          Leon Williams scored the first basket for the Bobcats on a lay-up.

-          Buffalo's Andy Robinson committed the first foul of the game.

-          After the score was tied 5-5 with 18:30 left in the first half, the Bobcats went on a 16-4 run to take an 18-9 advantage with 11:50 left on the clock.

-          Buffalo's Andy Robinson was the first player to 10 points when he made a free throw after an and-1 lay-up with 9:50 left to play in the opening half.

-          Ohio earned the 1-and-1 bonus with 7:31 left to play in the half - Leon Williams made both free throws following the foul on a defensive rebound.

-          Leon Williams was the first Bobcat with 10 points when he sank both of the above free throws.

-          Leon Williams became Ohio's second all-time leading rebounder with 1,051 for his career on a board with 7:34 left to play in the first half.

-          The Bobcats used a 35-24 run during the last 9:22 of the first half to take a 58-44 lead at the break.

HALFTIME: Ohio 58, Buffalo 44

-          Leon Williams led all scorers with 19 points at the break. It was the most points this season by a Bobcat in the first half of a game.

-          Williams went a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor in the first half, and shot 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

-          The Bobcats had three players in double figures at halftime with Leon Williams, Bubba Walther and Jerome Tillman all scoring 10 or more points in the first half. Walther went 4-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half.

-          Andy Robinson led all Bulls with 12 points.

-          Michael Allen had six assists and Bubba Walther chipped in five more in the first half. Allen's total was the highest for a Bobcat in the first half this season.

-          The Bobcats shot a blistering 66.7 percent from the field (18-of-27) in the first half, scoring 58 points. The Bobcats came into the game averaging 29.9 points per game in the first half.

-          The Bobcats' previous season high for points in the first-half was 44 against Louisiana-Lafayette.

SECOND HALF:

-          Leon Williams scored the Bobcats' first two points of the second half on a pair of free throws.

-          Buffalo answered with a 13-8 run over the next 4:25.

-          Leon Williams made his first eight shot attempts from the floor. His first miss was a falling-down layup attempt with 9:59 left to play in the game.

-          Ohio went on a 15-8 run spanning 6:53 that ended with a Jerome Tillman fastbreak layup with 7:07 left in the game.

-          Andrew Vroman scored his first point this season on a free throw with 1.7 seconds left to play. He made the second free throw as well.

POSTGAME:

-          Leon Williams scored 30 points against the Bulls, just one point shy of his career-high of 31 set at Temple earlier this season.

-          The senior forward made 10-of-11 shots from the field (91 percent) which tied him with Jerome Tillman last season and Curtis Simmons in 1997 for fourth-best all-time shooting percentage in a game. (Min. 7 attempts)

-          Williams also went 10-of-11 from the free throw line and the team went 23-of-28 from the charity stripe.

-          Ohio's victory earned it a first round bye in the MAC Tournament and a second round matchup with either Miami (No. 5 seed) or a re-match with Buffalo (No. 12 seed).

-          Williams (1,054) became Ohio's second-leading rebounder of all-time Sunday, surpassing Gary Trent (1,050). Williams needs 50 rebounds to take over the top spot from Brandon Hunter (1,103).

-          Buffalo's edge on the glass snapped a streak of five consecutive games that saw Ohio outrebound its opponents.