Buffalos's Calvin Betts, left, tries to prevent Ohio's D.J. Cooper from making a pass during the home game on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010. The Bobcats established an early lead an won 99-77. Photo by Sean Work for Speakeasy.

With five minutes left before tip-off, freshman point guard D.J. Cooper was nowhere to be found. Already without one starter because of DeVaughn Washington’s indefinite suspension, the ‘Cats manufactured a little luck—and their best effort of the season.

The Bobcats (10-9, 1-4 MAC) finally got their first MAC victory with a 99-77 thrashing of Buffalo (10-6, 3-2) before nearly 10,700 fans at the Convocation Center. Ohio took the lead with 13:32 left in the first half and never gave it back, shooting 51.1 percent from the field.

Cooper, who left the team after Wednesday’s loss at Bowling Green to attend his grandmother’s funeral, arrived just in time for tip-off. He played what he described as his “most complete” game as a Bobcat, accumulating nine points, 11 assists, six rebounds and a career-high seven steals.

“I just talked to Coach and he told me to relax. He kept calling me, not bugging me,” Cooper said, flashing a grin, “and telling me to be relaxed, stay focused and not try to do too much and play my game.”

Junior guard Tommy Freeman scored a career-high 27 points, making five three-pointers and shooting 8-9 from the free-throw line. Every Bobcat starter had double-digit points: Freeman had 27, Jay Kinney had 18, Armon Bassett had 16 and Kenneth van Kempen and Reggie Keely both had 10.

“[From] scouting, I knew that our guards would be able to get into the lane,” Freeman said. “We have so many options on our team that you can’t key on one guy, and I think that’s what makes us dangerous.”

Guard John Boyer led the Bulls with 20 points, while teammate Calvin Betts spent most of the game in foul trouble, eventually fouling out with 7:39 remaining after scoring only seven points. Star guard Rodney Pierce scored 17, but did so shooting only 6-20.

“No disrespect to Allen Iverson fans, but I remember [Kentucky coach] John Calipari saying at a clinic, ‘If you can get a guy to score as many points as he takes shots, he actually might be hurting his team,’” Ohio head coach John Groce said. “I think that speaks volumes of us trying to make him earn everything that he got today. I’m sure he’ll get it going again. He’s too good a player.”

After a poor showing last Saturday at Miami, the ‘Cats outscored the Bulls 42-14 in the paint, had 22 assists on 34 field goals, shot 80 percent from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle 42-32. Ohio ran Buffalo up and down the floor, outscoring the Bulls 22-4 in fast break points.

“When you have a point guard like D.J. that wants to play, he really ignites our transition game,” Groce said. “These guys have figured out now, through 70-some practices and 19 games that, if you run, he’ll reward you.”

Instead of the poor home starts Ohio fans had gotten used to, the ‘Cats started the game with a bang. Ohio shot 18-33 (54.5 percent) from the field in the first half, including 6-12 from the three.

Freeman led the explosion, shooting 5-5 from the field, 4-4 from behind the arc and 2-2 from the free throw line for 16 first-half points.

With a little over a second left in the first half, Cooper lobbed an in-bounds pass to freshman forward Ivo Baltic, who made a layup as time expired. At halftime, the ‘Cats led, 47-31.

“I think their spacing was great tonight. They passed the ball very well, they saw the floor very well, their screening was good and they went to the glass hard,” Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “When you get a team that does that and can shoot it the way they do, it puts a lot of pressure on your defense.”

Keely started off the second half with a monster dunk, and Ohio’s lead swelled to as much as 25 in the half.

“I thought it was as well as we’ve played together. [I’m] especially proud of them; they could have had a million excuses why not to play like that today,” Groce said. “Our guys really came together at a time when it would have been easy to not give the type of effort and type of emotion and passion they did with today.”

The lone black mark of the game for the Green and White came with 5:17 remaining, when the officials called a foul on Kinney and blew the play dead. After a long delay, the officials called a flagrant foul and ejected him from the game.

“I haven’t seen it yet on video. I don’t know what’s going on with it,” Groce said. “[The official] said that he felt like [Kinney] had thrown a punch and he was ejected from the game.”

The game was the end of a forgettable week for Buffalo. On Wednesday, the Bulls were trounced 89-54 against Kent State. With the Flashes’ win Saturday against Akron, there is now a four-way tie for first place in the MAC East.

“It’s like that sign that says ‘today’s not my day and tomorrow doesn’t look good either.’ They should’ve hung that sign up at Kent,” Witherspoon said. “I think we’re gonna do some soul searching here. We got a nice, long bus ride home. We might have to drop a few guys off on the way there.”

A season that looked to be lost for Ohio has now found life again: the win puts the Bobcats only two games out of first place with ten regular season conference games remaining.

The ‘Cats’ next contest is Wednesday night at 8, where they will take on Northern Illinois in DeKalb.

“How we played today has nothing to do with how we have to play and prepare on Wednesday night,” Groce said. “It’s a completely different game.”

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