Jerome Tillman didn’t have to retaliate when Eastern Michigan’s Brandon Bowdry shoved the ball in his chest late in last night’s game.
Sure, Tillman didn’t go away quietly by any means. Both coaches had to come onto the floor to clear away players gathered around the two heated forwards.
But most importantly, Tillman didn’t throw a cheap shot in return. Instead, he laughed it off — he’d already made enough shots of his own earlier to find humor in his opponent’s frustration.
“When guys try to come at me like that, I just laugh because we’re winning and they’re over there trying to fight,” Tillman said after the Bobcats’ 67-61 win over the Eagles last night in The Convo. “You kind of get like that when your team’s losing like that. You get their frustration up.”
Tillman and forward Leon Williams frustrated a young Eastern Michigan frontcourt the entire game. Tillman and Williams notched their ninth and eighth double-doubles of the season, respectively, but their dominance in the paint went well beyond the stat sheet.
Eastern Michigan had to rely solely on its outside game as its frontcourt, which includes two freshmen, had a tough time getting open looks against the Bobcats’ duo. Ohio’s control inside forced the Eagles to shoot nearly half their shots from behind the arc.
“There really wasn’t much to it,” said Williams, who finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds. “We just took advantage of their inexperience inside.”
The rest of the Bobcats were fortunate that Tillman and Williams combined for 37 points and 27 rebounds because the team shot uncharacteristically poor from the perimeter.
Ohio made just one of its 13 3-point attempts and only seven of the team’s 67 points came away from the paint or free-throw line.
“From the perimeter we just had one of those nights,” said coach Tim O’Shea. “We missed some wide open jumpers but that’ll happen from time to time. Fortunately for us, we still won the game.”
After a first half where they seemingly couldn’t miss from the field, Tillman and Williams did most of their damage from the foul line in the second half to put away a rallying Eastern Michigan squad. The duo made 11 of their 14 free throws down the stretch to snuff the Eagles’ comeback attempt, which brought a deficit that was as high as 19 points down to six.
Tillman said that he and Williams have to continue their strong play if they want to be successful beyond the regular season.
“I think you win championships with your big men,” Tillman said. “They’re down there doing the dirty work.”Doing the dirty work doesn’t seem to be an issue for Tillman — even though he likes to keep it clean.
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