Men's basketball rolls to first win

by Chris Littmann
Staff Writer

Despite being undermanned because of eligibility and health issues, the Ohio men's basketball team defeated International Select 89- 77 in the first of two exhibition games for the Bobcats.

Ohio forwards Brandon Hunter and Steve Esterkamp each tallied double-doubles in the win.  Hunter led the way with 28 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 3-4 from three-point range. Esterkamp had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and forward Sonny Johnson rounded out the scorers in double digits with 16 points.

"It felt good that we weren't just playing against each other, because we finally got to go and bang somebody else around," Hunter said.

Esterkamp, suffering from strep throat, scored all his points in the first half. The Bobcats leaned on the seniors in the first half for most of the team's offense. Hunter, Esterkamp and Johnson put up 26 of Ohio's 33 first-half shots.

"Other teams will have scouting reports on us, so we won't get those kinds of shots," Esterkamp said. "We took the open shot whenever we had it, but we'll probably have to give it up more later on in the season."

The Bobcats lacked most of the frontcourt players that will see playing time this season. Forward Delvar Barrett missed the game with a sprained left thumb, while center Marin Bota remains ineligible to compete until next quarter due to NCAA transfer rules.

"We had some moments where I thought we were good, but we had other moments where I thought we were terrible. But that's par for the course when you're undermanned like we were," Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said. "There are a lot of defensive sequences where we just didn't make the right slide in our zone."

Ohio did get some good offensive minutes from its newcomers. Guard Stephen King tallied nine points on 3-8 shooting from three-point range, registered four assists and only one turnover in his collegiate debut. Forward Jeff Halbert scored six points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists in his first game in an Ohio uniform.

Fueled by two dunks and a three-pointer by Hunter, the Bobcats went on a 14-2 run in the final 3:20 of the first half to build a 50-35 lead at halftime.

International Select, led by former South Florida guard Brian Taylor's 20 points, cut the Ohio halftime lead to five points with 9:17 remaining, but it was the closest the game would get.

"I like adversity; the worst thing I could do was bring in a bad team," O'Shea said. "Most of these guys played professionally in Europe or the CBA; some have been in NBA camps. I wanted to win, but I also wanted to have teaching opportunities."

The Bobcats finish their exhibition schedule against H.P. Minnesota at 8 p.m. Nov. 27 in The Convo.