Game recap: Michigan basketball survives scare vs. upset-minded Ohio

Michigan basketball moved to 4-1 on the season with a 70-66 overtime win over the Ohio Bobcats on Sunday night at Crisler Center. There was plenty of drama, and an abundance of sloppy Wolverine play, but the group found a way to gut it out and secure a victory.

Junior center Hunter Dickinson led all scorers with 24 points and added 14 rebounds in the victory, while freshman wing Jett Howard had 13 points and a critical shot down the stretch. Junior forward Terrance Williams had 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Here is a recap of the night’s events in Ann Arbor.

First half

Michigan jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on a layup from Hunter Dickinson to get the scoring started at the 18:32 mark. However, the Bobcats would ride out a hot offensive start to take an 11-6 lead at the under-16 media timeout. Ohio’s lead would grow to 16-8 at the 13:07 mark before a Kobe Bufkin 3-pointer cut into the deficit at 16-11 at the under-12 timeout.

Needing an energy boost, head coach Juwan Howard went to a lineup that included freshman guard Dug McDaniel, sophomore guard Isaiah Barnes, sophomore forward Will Tschetter and freshman center Tarris Reed. That group helped U-M narrow the Ohio deficit to 18-16 before a Bobcat 3-pointer extended the lead back to 21-16 with 7:25 remaining.

Ohio led by as many as 9 points in the first half after taking a 27-18 lead at the 4:10 mark of the first half. From there, Dickinson began to take over. With Michigan down 29-21, he hit a pair of free throws at the 3:04 mark that sparked a personal 12-2 run to close out the half. His efforts were headlined by 2 made 3-pointers, the 2nd of which came on a buzzer-beater heave at the ending of the half. Michigan went into the locker room leading 33-31.

Second half

Ohio got the first bucket of the 2nd half and tied the game at 33-33 before Llewellyn hit a layup at 17:42 to get the lead back at 35-33. A pair of 3s by Terrance Williams and Llewellyn helped Michigan extend the lead lead to 41-35 at the 16:11 mark. Jett Howard’s dunk had the Wolverines up 43-37 before a quick 5-0 run from the Bobcats to narrow the deficit to 43-42 with 13:35 left in the game. A Williams layup extended the lead to 45-42 before another 5-0 Ohio spurt helped it pull back in front 47-45 at 12:48 remaining. Dickinson tied the game with a dunk to knot things up at 47-47 when the under-12 media timeout hit.

But everytime Michigan looked like it was ready to take the game back into control, the Bobcats came back alive. A 6-0 run out of the media timeout led to a 53-47 lead for Ohio that eventually ballooned to 57-50 in favor of the Bobcats with 7:48 remaining. Bufkin hit a jumper and Williams drilled a 3-pointer after, helping Michigan get within 2 at 57-55 at the 5:22 mark. The Bobcats got their lead back up to 6 at 61-55 with 4:13 left in the contest. A Llewellyn free throw and Jett Howard 3-pointer had the score at 61-59 with 3:25 to play.

Bufkin tied the game on a layup with 1 minute remaining to bring the score to 61-61. Bufkin was fouled in the waning seconds, putting him at the free throw line with 2.1 seconds to play. He hit both, giving Michigan a 63-61 lead with Ohio needing a prayer.

The Bobcats got one. An inbound pass that bounced off the backboard went straight to a Bobcat, who threw it back at the basket. The shot was missed, but a putback from Dwight Wilson went through as time expired, sending the game to overtime at 63-63.

Overtime

Michigan scored the first 5 points of the overtime period on a Dickinson make and Jett Howard 3-pointer to go up 68-63 with 3:47 left in the period. The Wolverines had a few opportunities to extend the lead, but an and-1 from Ohio’s Wilson narrowed the deficit to 68-66 with 1:09 to go. Llewellyn hit a free throw to extend the lead to 69-66 with 21 seconds remaining.

Michigan basketball vs. Ohio box score