Cooper stays hot as OU shocks Michigan

By Elton Alexander

Cleveland Plain Dealer

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

The screams from the band, the cheerleaders and the fans inside Bridgestone Arena said it all: “OU, oh yeah!”

No. 13-seed Ohio University’s men’s basketball team took down the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines, 65-60, Friday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament Midwest Regional. It was the second time in three years the Bobcats pulled a tournament upset.

Junior guard D.J. Cooper, the MAC tournament MVP, posted 21 points and five assists. He led four OU players in double figures, including Walter Offutt with 11, Ivo Baltic with 10 and Reggie Keely with 10.

“Coach always [says] big time players step up in big games, and I consider myself a pretty good player,” Cooper said.

The Bobcats benefited from a string of Michigan misses and turnovers during final 4:05 after Wolverines had closed to 63-60. The game was not sealed until a pair of Offutt free throws with 6.8 seconds to play.

Not only are the two teams relatively close geographically, many of the players have rivalries going back to high school and AAU, adding a little extra spice to the game. Keeping emotions in check was key on both benches.

“We can’t get caught up in personal battles,” Keely said. “It’s not just one person against another person just because you know each other. You have to stay focused and come out and play our game and hopefully get the win.”

That’s exactly what the Bobcats did.

Skilled but not overly athletic, Michigan was the perfect foil for the smaller and faster Bobcats.

“We were humble, but we were also excited for our draw,” Cooper said. “We felt we could compete. We like the whole bracket that we got.”

The Bobcats took an early 7-4 lead before the Wolverines responded with back-to-back hoops for a 9-7 advantage. The Bobcats, however, found a soft spot in the Wolverines’ defense, scoring four straight baskets inside to take a 15-11 lead. Michigan would not get the upper hand the rest of the night.

Cooper, in particular, was hot as he had 13 points in the opening half on 4-of-5 shooting with three free throws.

Both teams shot well — 64.3 percent for the Bobcats, 53.3 percent for Michigan.