Starting lineup shaken in Akron win

by Anthony Castrovince
Staff Writer

When the Ohio mens’ basketball team (9-6, 4-2 Mid-American Conference) took the court for its 85-67 victory against the Akron Zips on Jan. 20, the Bobcats’ starting lineup was noticeably different.

Guard Thomas Stephens had his first career start and forward Steve Esterkamp started for the first time in nearly two weeks, but guard Dustin Ford and forward Anthony Jones sat on the bench. It was the first time Ford and Jones played as reserves and the fourth different starting five used this season.

Coach Larry Hunter said he benched the two seniors because he was disappointed with their play in the Jan. 17 75-69 loss to Central Michigan.

"The thing about not starting Anthony and Dustin was I didn’t think they had played particularly well for them," he said. "It’s just my expectation of seniors. Late in the game, we had a situation where we let a key player, (Central Michigan guard) David Webber, beat us with two threes.

"I expect my seniors to have their heads in the game. That’s just playing smart."

Ford, who has started in 93 games in his four-year career, seemed upset at a post-game press conference.

"When you’ve started for four years, and you’ve started in 85-90 games, and you don’t start, you’re not going to be very happy," he said. "That was up to coach Hunter and that’s why he’s the coach, and that’s why we played. So, that’s what he chose to do and we did it."

The two played well off the bench. Ford hit three three-pointers and Jones contributed 16 points in 23 minutes.

"I came off the bench and did what I had to do, and that’s all," Jones said.

Lifting the Esterkamp curse

Before the win against Akron, the Bobcats were 0-2 when Esterkamp led the team in scoring and 0-6 when he scored in double figures. All that changed with Esterkamp’s 11-point, four-rebound performance against the Zips.

Esterkamp has played well the past two games. In the loss to Central Michigan, he scored a team-high 18 points off the bench and grabbed six boards; he also had a game-high four three-pointers.

Hunter said he was impressed with the play of Esterkamp and forward Jon Sanderson in the Akron game.

"I thought they both had some big baskets and got some good looks," he said. "I thought they were both more aggressive and made good decisions. But with Steve and Jon, they both just need to be more consistent."

Tolerable turnovers

Turnovers are supposed to be detrimental to a team. For the Bobcats, however, they have not spelled doom.

In six of their nine wins this season, the Bobcats turned the ball over more often than their opponents. The Akron game was the sixth such rare occurrence – Ohio lost possession 18 times to the Zips’ 14.

The Bobcats have had more turnovers than their opponent in 11 of 15 games, yet have a turnover margin of —2.1 per game.