Some holes you can’t dig yourself out of.
No. 21 Bethel Morton jumped on No. 14 Our Savior's early and was able to hold off a late push to beat the Illini 77-71 on Thursday.
It has become a trend for Our Savior's to fall behind early. Bethel Morton punched Our Savior's in the mouth with an early 10-2 lead. After recovering — which has also seemed to be a trend — to tie the game, the Flames went on a 15-0 run.
“We can’t just keep taking body blows and we can’t just keep coming out flat, lifeless, emotionless and with no spirit,” said head coach Phillip Heppe postgame. “I don’t know what the right word is. It’s a blasé start, and we can’t do that.”
An issue that plagued Our Savior's (9-5, 5-3 Conference) in the Calvary loss last week was a lack of balance offensively — Jace Easley scored nearly 60% of the Eagles points, but to his credit, Conor McCaffrey was out — but the Eagles were able to spread the scoring around better against the Flames with six players scoring four or more points.
Easley led the way with 29, McCaffrey added 28 and following them was a strong 11 points from Jeremiah Perkins — including a few crucial late buckets to keep Our Savior's alive late.
“I feel like we’re building what a championship team needs right now,” Miller said. “We see the problems and we’re going to get better.”
After leading by as much as 19, the Buckeyes (11-3, 5-3 BIG) took a 15-point lead into the break. Ohio State shot over 50% from the floor and over 60% from three in the first half. This left Illinois with the daunting task of completing another double-digit comeback. Much more difficult to do against the No. 21 team in the nation.
“We have to put five guys on the floor who won’t ride the emotional roller coaster and just play,” Underwood said.
The second half — as has also been the case as of late — was a much different story. The Illini brought energy, passion and scoring to the second half — cutting the deficit to just five at one point.
Cockburn was a crucial part of the Illini attack offensively, but in the second half he struggled with double and triple teams, and turned it over multiple times. Cockburn’s frustration boiled over with a slam of the ball to the ground — and an animated Coach underwood had some words for his big man.
“He better get used to [the physicality],” Underwood said. “And he better make free throws.”
Cockburn was fouled hard and it was deemed a flagrant by the officials, giving the sophomore two shots at the line and a chance to further narrow the Buckeye lead. After he missed them both and then turned the ball over, Ohio State capitalized with a three pointer and quickly grew the lead to 14.
A few three pointers drained by Ohio State deadeye Justin Ahrens felt like daggers for Illinois — but a late surge from Illinois kept the game within striking distance in the game’s final minutes.
Once Illinois cut the deficit to three, there was a chance for a flagrant or offensive foul called on Ohio State. After review, the play was ruled a defensive foul on Adam Miller — giving Ohio State two free throws that they would make.