Bobcats breeze past Huskies

DeKALB - It's always tough to play from behind. But the Northern Illinois men's basketball team has been getting a lot of practice at it of late. The Huskies fell behind Ohio by 20 at halftime and never recovered in a 73-55 loss to the Bobcats Saturday at the Convocation Center. “I think the last couple games we've gotten a good feel of what the best teams in our league look like,” Northern Illinois coach Ricardo Patton said. Ohio (15-6, 6-2 Mid-American Conference) was able to expand its lead to as many as 27 points just past midway in the second half as they cruised to the win. The Huskies' (5-15, 2-6 MAC) lone lead was short lived and came less than three minutes into the game. They didn't have an answer for the Bobcats' forward combination of Leon Williams, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds or Jerome Tillman, who had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting. “Basketball is a very simple game, it's not rocket science,” Patton said. “Ohio has a great combination of low post play and perimeter play.” In games like Saturday's game, Patton just hopes his team can start to learn the value of each possession as they committed 17 turnovers in the loss. “You're not going to make up 20 points in one possession,” Patton said. “You've just got to chip away with it, stay patient, and you've got to make stops on the defensive end and shots on the offensive end.” Ohio coach Tim O'Shea, however, knows first-hand how dangerous it can be to play with a big lead. His Bobcats have done that plenty this season, going 13-0 this season when leading with 10 minutes left in a game. But O'Shea remembers a time when he played at Boston College that a lead didn't hold up. In 1981, his Eagles were behind 17 points with just over three minutes left and came back to beat Syracuse. “I've been around this long enough to know that you've just got to keep playing,” O'Shea said. “When you push it up to 25 and 26 then the defense gets a little more aggressive and you get layups. I thought against the pressure it helped create shots on the other end.” The Huskies got big efforts from Darion Anderson and Sean Smith in the second half, but their 16- and 19-point performances made little difference in the outcome. “We were in such a big hole we didn't have anything to lose,” Anderson said. The Huskies were outrebounded 36-27 and big men Shaun Logan, Sean Smith and Egan Grafel combined for just seven rebounds. “We've shown the ability at times to rebound the basketball,” Patton said. “We had some really nice rebounding games and we've got to get back to that. “But, what happens is, when that becomes part of a scouting report for your opponent to keep them off the glass, that means you have to work that much harder to do the same thing.” Bubba Walther adding 15 points and six assists off the bench for the Bobcats, whose bench outscored the Huskies 31-11. The Huskies' biggest bench producers were Michael Hart, who finished with six points, and Jeremy Landers, who scored three. Northern Illinois will move onto host Buffalo at 7 p.m. Tuesday after playing in front of 2,324 fans on Alumni Day. Daily Chronicle Sports Editor Jon Styf can be reached at jstyf@daily-chronicle.com.