OXFORD, Ohio – It was a tale of two halves on Monday night in Oxford, Ohio. Old Dominion men’s basketball led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but foul trouble and cold shooting allowed Miami (Ohio) to take the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge game, 87-72 at Millet Hall.
“There’s plenty we can take away from today, but we cannot get so emotional on the good side or the bad side,” ODU head coach Mike Jones said afterwards. “That truly affected our ability to execute, especially in the second half.”
The Monarchs (0-1) got out to a quick start as Scottie Hubbard opened the scoring with a deep ball from the left corner. Caelum Swanton-Rodger then scored a layup and Jared Turner made it 8-0 with another make from distance. LJ Thomas found Turner for a triple and Jordan Battle assisted Swanton-Rodger as ODU led by 10, 13-3 with 15:26 on the clock.
Zacch Wiggins and Thomas made another couple of threes for a 21-10 advantage. Battle went 3-for-3 at the line after getting fouled on a three-point attempt, and Thomas converted his free throw after he was fouled on a made three-pointer. A KC Shaw jumper pushed the lead to 30-17 with 8:05 left in the opening stanza.
The RedHawks (1-0) closed the gap to 40-33 as Eian Elmer sank both of his free throws, Evan Ipsaro scored a layup, and Brant Byers made a dunk. Turner was fouled on a successful tip-in and proceeded to hit his charity shot. That rounded out the first-half scoring for ODU as the Monarchs took a 45-37 lead into the locker room.
On what went well in the first half, Jones added, “We shared the ball and did not play perfect. We had nine turnovers and gave up a few offensive rebounds in the first half. There were definitely some things that if we can hold on a little bit more, we can be up a little bit more.”
“We didn’t play great defense in the first half. They had 37 points at the half, 18 of them were in the paint. Those are things we’re going to have to improve upon.”
In the second half, Battle, Hubbard and Swanton-Rodger picked up some early fouls. The Monarchs also struggled to get their shots to fall, and that shifted momentum towards Miami. After an Antwone Woolfolk bucket, Almar Atlason connected from deep to give the hosts their first lead, 53-52 at the 14:23 mark. Another three from Byers put the RedHawks up 58-54, but a layup by Thomas and a couple of made free throws for Battle knotted the game at 58-58 with just over 10 minutes.
A Donovan Raymond layup cut the deficit to 64-62 at the 7:53 mark, but the Monarchs went cold for the next five minutes. Miami capitalized with a 15-0 scoring run that put the game out of reach, 79-62. With under three minutes left, ODU couldn’t come up with a response and the RedHawks held on.
“For as many games as we will play on the road, you’re going to have the other team talking trash, the crowd yelling at you, a call here and there that you think is wrong. You just can’t respond. You’ve got to believe that we’re good enough to stay with what we do, and that’s going to be enough to win. If we can do that, I am fully confident that we’ll be just fine.
Four Monarchs finished in double figures. Thomas led the way with 13 points, six assists, and three rebounds. Shaw was next with 11 points, and Swanton-Rodger and Battle finished with 10 points each. Battle led ODU on the glass with seven rebounds and added five assists to his final line, and Turner contributed nine points with five boards, two steals, and one block.
ODU shot 47.2% (25-for-53) from the floor, 42.9% (9-for-21) from distance, and 81.3% (13-for-16) at the free-throw line. The Monarchs controlled the game for 25:23, with their largest lead at the 13:37 mark in the first half at 18-4, but were held to just 27 points in the second half. The game had just one tie and only three lead changes. Old Dominion also allowed 42 points in the paint and 28 points off of 19 turnovers.
Robert Davis Jr. and Stephaun Walker did not dress for the game. Asked about missing them tonight, Jones said, “If we’re going to be the team that we believe we can be, and depth being such an asset to us, there’s going to be times in the season where somebody is going to be missing. I’ll take the four guys in double figures and three other guys a bucket away from being in double figures. That will be very hard to guard us when we have that balanced scoring, and then you add a Robert Davis Jr. and a Stephaun Walker back into that mix.”
Up Next
ODU has its home opener this Thursday night, Nov. 6 as the Monarchs welcome Randolph College for a 7 p.m. game at Chartway Arena.