Ohio went ice cold in the second half, but a clutch sequence of events guided Ohio to victory.
Ohio did everything in its power to give away a substantial second half lead. Poor ball handling, plenty of fouls, and passive play in the paint allowed Northern Illinois to stage a comeback and erase an 18-point lead, but Ohio stepped on the gas when it needed to do so. Ohio’s (14-8, 5-5) final push quelled Northern Illinois’s (16-7, 5-5) comeback and allowed the Bobcats to escape with an 80-69 win.
A spinning Levi Bradley layup gave Northern Illinois a 60-59 lead with over nine minutes remaining, prompting several minutes of back and forth action.