Ohio holds on for 51-47 win over Coppin State
Harris leads all scorers with 17 points for the Bobcats

Box Score

CINCINNATI - The Ohio men’s basketball team won its first game of the season Sunday with a 51-47 victory over Coppin State in the second round of the Dell Black Coaches Association Classic at the Cintas Center on Sunday.

The Bobcats (1-1) will face UC Irvine at 2 p.m. on Monday in the final round of the eight-team tournament. The Anteaters (1-1) defeated San Diego 65-60 earlier in the day after falling to Illinois-Chicago 77-65 on Saturday.

Jaivon Harris led all scorers with 17 points for Ohio. The senior from Alliance also grabbed five rebounds and made five of six from the free-throw line, where the Bobcats were 13-of-17 (.765) as a team.

“I’m pleased that we made our free throws down the stretch,” said Ohio head coach Tim O’Shea. “One of the key deciding factors (in yesterday’s loss to Mercer) was that we shot only 52 percent from the free-throw line. Today we got that up to 76 percent and they were pressure free throws that really allowed us to put the game away.”

Ohio led 30-25 at halftime on 10-of-21 shooting from the field. For the game, the Bobcats were 17-of-44 (.386) compared to 19-of-58 (.327) for Coppin State.

“Early in the year, as a rule, defenses are usually ahead of offenses and you saw that today,” said O’Shea. “Right now, especially with the newer guys, we’ll run something and they will only see one option when there are three or four counters that they need to learn but just don’t know it yet. I think as our conditioning improves and we play more games, the execution is going to get better.”

Jeff Halbert added eight points, three assists and two rebounds while Delvar Barrett and Thomas Stephens both ended up with seven points for Ohio. Barrett, a senior from Detroit, led the Bobcats in rebounding with seven boards.

Newcomers Terren Harbut (six points, six rebounds), Diamond Gladney (three points), Matt Annen (two points) and Clay McGowen (one point) rounded out the scoring for Ohio.

Jimmy Boykin came off the bench to lead the Eagles with 14 points. Nicholas King was the only other Coppin State player in double figures with 10 points.