Strong backcourt play leads UF vs. ODU

OILERS' SECOND HALF LEADS TO QUALITY WIN AT HOMEBACKCOURT COMBINES FOR 50 PTS, 0 TURNOVERS AGAINST PANTHERSBY RILEY DICKINSONFINDLAY– Against the best defensive unit of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in Ohio Dominican, the University of Findlay needed a strong offensive showing to win an important conference clash. A combined 50 points and zero turnovers in 65 minutes from its starting backcourt certainly did the trick. Senior Mekhi Elmore, who scored 31 in Thursday's home win for the Oilers, put up 26 Saturday. Junior Anthony Johnson had a career-high 24 points, including his first career dunk for the Oilers in a 106-92 win. Johnson was near the top of all of Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio a season ago, and has coupled his terrific decision-making and playmaking with an increased scoring aggression."It feels great," Johnson said. "Coach is always telling me, just take what the defense gives me and always look for my shot. I try to get to my spots, and a couple of them fell through. Felt really good, felt great to get my first in-game dunk, too. I've been waiting to get that for a minute, so that felt great.""50 points and zero turnovers," Findlay coach Charlie Ernst said. "A pretty efficient night, for both of them. 17 of 28 between them shooting the ball, and those aren't easy shots that they're in there taking. That's a very, very good defensive team, the number one defensive team in our league.""Not to sound cocky or anything, but I think me and Mekhi can be some of the best guards in the league, especially when we're both going," Johnson continued. "I don't think anybody can guard him. Him going off really opens the game up for me as well."The Oilers overcame the Panthers in a second-half offensive masterclass, with three players finishing with 17 or more points in the win. The game opened with a Mekhi Elmore layup, putting Findlay on the board first. ODU then scored seven straight, Anthony Johnson made a layup, and the Panthers scored four more. Following ODU's 11-4 start, the Oilers surged ahead with an 8-0 run, off the back of a 5-0 stretch by Mason Brandt, to take the lead back 12-10. A 5-0 Panthers run followed, as ODU retained the lead and the teams traded buckets back and forth for the remainder of the half. That is, until Elmore hit two consecutive mid-range jumpers and Brandt dazzled the crowd with an impressive reverse put-back dunk to put the Oilers up 48-45, their first lead since going up 12-10, headed into the halftime break."We just felt like we had the attitude of sitting down and guarding," Johnson said. "We got a couple stops, got a couple scores. The crowd got into it. That's kind of what pushed the momentum.""The more you expand our game, the better our team gets," Ernst said. "That's kind of where we're at. I thought some guys did that today on a shortened roster because of injuries and so forth, so I couldn't be more proud of this team after the tough, exhausting loss on Thursday."The second half was essentially all Findlay, as it carried its late-half momentum into the rest of the game. Sophomore Steele Meister, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, went on a 6-0 run by himself to put the game further out of reach for the Panthers. Meister went 7-of-12 from the floor, grabbing four rebounds and splashing two three-pointers in 25 minutes. Brandt led the team in rebounding with seven, scoring 13, and recording two blocks and two steals. Big man Alex Kendal added 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals. "We had some tremendous individual performances tonight, and they deserve tremendous credit," Ernst said. Mekhi, he's been tremendous all week. Anthony was really good tonight. And then Steele off the bench. I thought Mason had a couple big blocks in the second half. That's what it takes.""Alex is a fun kid to coach," Ernst added. "His upside is so high. He had a couple of big plays in the second half, rolling to the basket. His presence in there on the glass, blocking shots, he's playing against two seniors in there. In fact, I think they might be redshirt seniors, so these are 23-year-old men he's in there against." Swingman Derek Goodman led the Panthers with 25 points, going 3-of-7 from three-point range with three boards and two assists. Caleb Conard tacked on 16 points. Talented stretch big Elijah Hinton posted 14 points, three rebounds, and four assists, also hitting a trio of long-range jumpers. Logan Ryan added 11 points. "We knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but I just thought our guys really stepped up," Ernst said. "I changed my substitution method today. We needed this win. Once we got the lead, I kept asking our guys, 'How do you feel, how do you feel?' They were giving me thumbs up, telling me they're good. You know, when Javonte (Hill) went down there, that took another body away from us. But you know what, in a game like today, it shows the quality of a good bench. Not only good players, but players that have played a lot of minutes, so they're not afraid of the situation."Findlay only had six turnovers all game, and held the Panthers to just eight 3s. The Oilers won the rebounding battle, grabbing 11 o-boards, recorded eight steals and three blocks as a unit, and shot 88-percent from the charity stripe (22/28)."We're the defending regular-season champs for a reason," Johnson said. "Not too much has changed about us, we just have to figure out some stuff. I feel like this was a good game to get things going, so hopefully we can go on a run from here."With the win, the Oilers improved to 6-4 in the G-MAC and 12-6 overall. Saturday's victory solidifies UF in fourth place in the G-MAC standings, ahead of a home contest against conference opponent Hillsdale (7-10, 4-5 G-MAC) on Thursday at 7:30. ODUGoodman 11-0–25, Conard 6-4–16, Hinton 4-3–14, Ryan 2-5–11, Broughton 4-1–9, Scott 3-2–8, Seemann 2-1–5, Moore 1-0–2, Nikiema 1-0–2. TOTALS: 34-16–92.FINDLAYElmore 8-8–26, Johnson 9-4–24, Meister 7-1–17, Brandt 5-2–13, Kendall 4-5–13, Landers 3-1–7, Bishop 1-0–3, Hill 1–1–3. TOTALS: 38-22–106.HALFTIME SCORE: 48-45, Findlay. THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS: ODU 8-23 (Goodman, Hinton 3); Findlay 8-23 (Elmore, Johnson, Meister 2). REBOUNDS: ODU 28 (Seemann 6); Findlay 32 (Brandt 7).TURNOVERS: ODU 12, Findlay 6.