Battle of the bricks
Live in-game of the Ohio-Miami rivalry game
By Zach Swartz, Staff Writer
March 1, 2008 | 7:37 p.m.
Speakeasy Sports' Zach Swartz made the trek to Oxford this weekend to give you live, in-game updates and commentary on the age-old Bobcat-RedHawk rivalry game. Be sure to check back all night for to-the-minute updates of the Battle of the Bricks.
15:57 First Half: Ohio 7, Miami 8
It's Miami's Alumni Night here at Millett Hall, and the usually fairly quiet arena is packed and loud. The RedHawks have responded to the crowd support and are on fire. Miami's 6-foot-5-inch junior guard Michael Bramos has all eight of the RedHawks' points, but the 'Cats are sticking with them so far. We'll see if that can continue on the road, where the Bobcats are a less-than-impressive 2-5 in the MAC on the season.
13:09 First Half: Ohio 7, Miami 13
Bramos just cranked a Leon Williams would-be layup down the court to the cheers of the Redhawk faithful, then proceeded to take the turnover down the court and get fouled. He still has over 70 percent of their points. The 'Cats have to find some way to stop them if they want to come up with their third MAC home win.
11:32 First Half: Ohio 7, Miami 15
We're almost halfway finished with the first half, and it's looking once again like the Bobcats are going to have to be that second-half team that they have decided to become over the past six games or so. Bubba Walther just put up a three from about Athens, Ohio, Ohio hasn't scored in over five minutes, and the RedHawk band is chanting, "DP Dough! DP Dough!" for some reason. It's not looking too good right now.
9:08 First Half: Ohio 9, Miami 22
Michael Allen just ended the RedHawk six-minute 7-0 run with a layup, but Timmy Pollitz just countered with a pair of his own. OU missed two more threes in a row, and Bramos decided to take advantage and pop in one for himself. Bramos 12, Ohio 9.
7:51 First Half: Ohio 9, Miami 22
After Kenny Hayes just tried to jump on me and crush my laptop, Leon Williams attempted to protect his favorite journalist by pushing Hayes down. Sideline seats do have their disadvantages.
6:15 First Half: Ohio 11, Miami 29
OU finally got a turnover they needed, but Whittington decided to take a ten foot layup and got swatted. RedHawks took the ball and countered with a three from, guess who, Mr. Michael Bramos, who rebounded yet another Bobcat miss and took a foul on the other end. Williams has two fouls.
3:15 First Half: Ohio 14, Miami 31
KVK just decided to use the hoop as a fulcrum as he banked a wide open layup over the rim. Justin Orr followed with a missed 12-footer, while Miami put up two more free throws. Tillman and Williams countered with two more missed shots of their own, and the band apparently hasn't gotten their DP Dough they wanted either. Whittington finally put in a three, this one also from about Athens. Thank God.
END of First Half: Ohio 14, Miami 35
Allen Hester just got fouled for a chance to shoot Ohio's first two foul shots of the game. He missed them both. In the meantime, Ohio's catlayst last Saturday against George Mason, Bubba "Big Game" Walther is 0-3 from the floor. Maybe it's the guy behind me shouting, "Yeah, Bubba, you suck!" and "Damn, Bubba, you got some big arms!" Rough half. The 'Cats have officially put up their lowest scoring total in the first half all season and have produced their largest halftime defecit since they were down by 26 to No. 3 Kansas on Dec. 15. Final score of that one: 88-51, Kansas. That second-half team better find themselves here in Ohio's twin city.
FIRST HALF INDIVIDUAL STATS:
Ohio:
Leon Williams: 2 pts., 6 rbds., 1-5 FG
Justin Orr: 0 pts., 2 rbds., 0-5 FG
Jerome Tillman: 2 pts., 5 rbds., 1-3 FG
Michael Allen: 5 pts., 0 rbds., 2-3 FG, 1-1 3FG
Bubba Walther: 2 pts., 0 rbds., 1-5 FG, 0-3 3FG
Bert Whittington: 3 pts., 0 rbds., 1-3 FG, 1-2 3FG
Miami:
Michael Bramos: 19 pts., 2 rbds., 6-9 FG, 4-6 3FG
Tim Pollitz: 6 pts., 1 rbd., 3-5 FG
Tyler Dierkers: 6 pts., 6 rbds., 2-3 FG
Kenny Hayes: 2 pts., 3 rbds., 0-1 FG
Eric Pollitz: 2 pts., 7 rbds., 1-3 FG
16:58 Second Half: Ohio 16, Miami 45
After I had a quality encounter with Eric Pollitz, whose team apparently does not need a little motivation at the half, in the arena's bathroom, Bramos came out and cracked the 20-point mark with a steal and breakway dunk that brought the packed house down. In basketball, when one team scores, the other team gets the ball. Ohio got the ball, then proceeded to turn it over once again. Here's to another 8-2 run for the 'Hawks.
15:53 Second Half: Ohio 18, Miami 45
There's a break on the floor as Bramos just took a hard fall while trying to knock away a Michael Allen layup. It took a few minutes, but he got back up and is off to the locker room. Michael Allen at the line, for just Ohio's second chance tonight. He made them! 'Cats still down almost 30.
12:55 Second Half: Ohio 20, Miami 47
Everyone is just looking sluggish. The RedHawks are diving for loose balls, getting in Bobcat players' faces, making plays, while Ohio looks like they just woke up from a nice night out on Court Street. Tim O'Shea looks less than happy, and the Miami band has now also moved to chants of "Bubba! Bubba!" whenever he touches the ball. They did finally score, though, on a pair of Williams free throws. That's 20 points, boys. Now you need just 27 more.
10:55 Second Half: Ohio 22, Miami 49
This just in: Ohio just had their best play of the game. KVK took an errant pass from the 'Hawks, passed up to Bubba who gave a nice bouncer to Leon for the dunk. Still, Ohio 22, Michael Bramos 23.
9:38 Second Half: Ohio 24, Miami 52
Leon looks pissed, as does O'Shea. I would be pissed too if I was leading my team in scoring with just eight points. Meanwhile in RedHawkland Allen Hester just got called for an intentional foul on a clean block of Tyler Dierkers, who also spent some time lying on the red baseline of Millett Hall. He made one of two to give the RedHawks half a century of points. The Bobcats, on the other hand, have less than half of that.
6:30 Second Half: Ohio 32, Miami 56
Bert just popped in a three to make the Bobcats 3-17 from the floor from beyond the arc. At the half, Ohio was 2-13 from three-point land, the same as they were against Bowling Green last Tuesday at the Convo. In that game, the 'Cats came out in the second half going 6-9 from three. The difference between today and then: the big image of the state of Ohio on the floor instead of a giant red bird of prey.
5:08 Second Half: Ohio 36, Miami 59
Coach O'Shea thinks he has the answer to all the Bobcats' problems, as Asown Sayles checks into the game. Meanwhile, the RedHawks are making EVERYTHING, including an attempted save by Carl Richburg that ended up in a trash can alongside the court. Bert just made another trey, and Miami countered once again with an easy layup.
3:55 Second Half: Ohio 38, Miami 61
The Miami fans are continuing with their hatred of Walther as the student section holds up a sign that reads, "Greatest Players in Moeller History: #1 Tyker Dierkers, #2 Ken Griffey Jr., #27,801 Bubba Walther." Creativity points for the Oxfordians. Not that they need any more points.
2:14 Second Half: Ohio 47, Miami 63
Butter from Bubba. Finally. Walther answers his critics with his first three of the game. Just five more unanswered threes and a free throw, and we're tied.
END OF GAME: Ohio 49, Miami 73
Only one word can be used to describe this game for the Bobcats: embarrassing. The Miami band said it best with 49 seconds to go as they chanted, "The band wants to scrimmage! The band wants to scrimmage!" We might have had a chance against them the way we played tonight. Maybe. Better just to look to this Tuesday, back at the Convo against No. 2 in the MAC East, Akron.
FINAL STATS:
Ohio (18-10, 8-6 MAC):
Leon Williams: 13 pts., 10 rbds., 4-8 FG
Bert Whittington: 11 pts., 2 rbds., 3-13 FG, 3-6 3FG
Michael Allen: 7 pts., 0 rbds., 2-4 FG, 1-1 3FG
Jerome Tillman: 6 pts., 9 rbds., 2-6 FG
Bubba Walther: 5 pts., 1 rbd., 2-10 FG, 1-6 3FG
Kenneth van Kempen: 4 pts., 2 rbds., 1-3 FG
Justin Orr: 2 pts., 4 rbds., 1-7 FG
DeVaughn Washington: 1 pt., 2 rbds., 0-1 FG
TEAM TOTALS: 49 pts., 35 rbds., 15-61 FG, 5-25 3FG
TEAM NOTES:
-Ohio's 49 points tied the fewest amount scored by Ohio this season (Jan. 5 at Bowling Green).
-The 24-point margin of defeat for the Bobcats was their highest this season since losing by 37 against Kansas Dec. 15.
-Ohio and Miami are now tied for third place in the MAC East with identical 8-6 conference records. Ohio holds the tiebreaker with both Miami and second place Akron (10-4, 20-8 MAC) for seeding purposes in the MAC Tournament since the Bobcats are the only one of these three teams to have beaten the MAC West winner and probable No. 2 seed Western Michigan.
-Ohio's 24.6 percent shooting percentage is the lowest total for the Bobcats under coach Tim O'Shea. Before Saturday night, the team's previous worst shooting performance under O'Shea came Feb. 11, 2003, in a 27-point loss at Northern Illinois.
-Ohio's next game is this Tuesday, Mar. 4, against Akron at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
QUOTES:
Guard Bubba Walther:
"I just think we all have to play better as a whole. We just can't just wait till the second half to all of a sudden turn on the switch and find a way to win because we found out tonight that we get blown out, too."
"We know that we are better at home, but if we want to get to the NCAA Tournament, we're not going to win it in the Convo. We have to win it up in Cleveland at a neutral site. We just need to use these next two games to get better and get a bye so we only have to play three games to win a title."
"Everyone knows that our top two scorers are inside. If you take that away, we're going to struggle offensively...They did everything right, and we did everything wrong today."
"I don't think you can just put it on the road. I think you have to give them all of the credit and put the blame on us for not making our wide open threes...When you do have those shots, you have to hit them, and tonight we weren't successful."
"The effort was there. I don't think we didn't play hard. We just couldn't get anything going. It was just frustrating."
Coach Tim O'Shea:
"I'll take the fall for the team when we get back to Athens tomorrow, but when it gets to this stage in the season, sometimes it's not even really relevant."
When you average it out, you've got 6-30 [field goal percentage] between guys that honestly aren't bad shooters. You throw [Tommy] Freeman in there, who is a decent shooter, and that's 6-33. That's not good."
"I thought the guys played hard. They tried to rally, but at some point sometimes it's as simple as making shots."
Miami (14-13, 8-6):
Michael Bramos: 31 pts., 4 rbds., 9-15 FG, 5-9 3FG
Kenny Hayes: 12 pts., 3 rbds., 2-5 FG
Tim Pollitz: 10 pts., 2 rbds., 4-7 FG
Tyler Dierkers: 6 pts., 9 rbds., 2-3 FG
Eric Pollitz: 4 pts., 9 rbds., 2-4 FG
TEAM TOTALS: 73 pts., 34 rbds., 23-41 FG, 5-14 3FG
TEAM NOTES:
-Michael Bramos' 31 points gave him his fourth 30-point game of the season and his sixth game scoring over 20. Bramos singlehandedly outscored the Bobcats until just under halfway through the second half.
-Miami's win has kept the team in contention for a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament, something that most likely would have been out of their reach if they had fallen Saturday night.
-Miami coach Charlie Coles did not coach in Saturday's game because of a slight illness. Associate coach Jermaine Henderson took his place. Coles is expected to coach Tuesday night's game at Kent State.
QUOTES:
Guard Michael Bramos:"[Ohio's defense] lost me a couple times in the first couple minutes of the game...I think it was a little bit of both of me moving well and them blowing defensive assignments."
"[The crowd] always is a factor. It was a rivalry game, the alumni was back...We don't really have that much of a crowd at all times every single game...It always helps out."
Associate coach Jermaine Henderson:
"I'm just glad we won."
"In terms of the school or where we are, those guys [the alumni who visited the Miami locker room before the game] don't care about our record and our standings. Sure, they want us to win, but it was about the team, and I think we fed off their energy."
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