HARRISONBURG, Va. – Ohio could not overcome a sluggish first half, dropping its basketball season opener 88-78 to James Madison on Monday night at Atlantic Union Bank Center.

The Bobcats trailed by 20 late in the first half and were down 41-26 at the break. They got as close as six in the second half, but their comeback efforts came up short.

Aidan Hadaway led a balanced scoring effort by Ohio with 17 points, but they could not match Xavier Brown’s career-high 23 points for the Dukes. The Bobcats also were crushed by a 41-26 rebounding deficit.

Despite the bad first half, Ohio actually got out to an 8-4 lead that included a pair of steals and layups for Shareef Mitchell, but James Madison dominated for a long stretch after that. It scored... <Read More>

ATHENS – Parker Navarro and Ohio bounced back from a bad performance to destroy Buffalo 47-16 on Saturday at Peden Stadium.

Coming off of a 30-20 loss to rival Miami, the Bobcats blew out a Bulls team that came in with wins against Toledo and Northern Illinois.

Coming off a shaky performance against the RedHawks, Navarro went 14-of-19 for 231 yards and two touchdowns and ran 13 times for 81 yards. It also was a big day for Coleman Owen, who caught six passes for 146 yards and two scores and also had a 22-yard rushing touchdown.

As well as it turned out, the Bobcats (5-3, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) and Navarro had some struggles early. Navarro was intercepted by Marquis Cooper on Ohio’s second possession, and a missed 47-yard field goal... <Read More>

OXFORD – Ohio’s offense struggled as Miami rolled to a 30-20 victory in the 100th edition of the Battle of the Bricks on Saturday at Yeager Stadium.

The RedHawks built a 16-0 halftime lead and took a 30-6 advantage into the fourth quarter. The Bobcats finished with just 291 yards of offense and nearly half of those came in the last period after the game was decided.

Ohio’s own defense kept it close for a while. It held Miami (3-4, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) to a Dom Dzioban 28-yard field goal in the first quarter, but the offense did not pick up a first down on its first four possessions.

Eventually that led to a relatively short field for the RedHawks, and they capitalized with the game’s first touchdown on a Brett Gabbert 14-yard... <Read More>

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Ohio used a huge first half from quarterback Parker Navarro to build a lead and then held off Central Michigan late 27-25 for its first win at Kelly/Shorts Stadium since 2011.

Navarro and the Bobcats (4-2, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) held a 332-63 advantage in yards in the first half that resulted in a 24-0 lead. The Chippewas were nearly as dominant in the second half with a 25-3 scoring advantage, but the Bobcats were able to run out the clock late.

Most of Navarro’s 176 yards rushing came before halftime. He also finished the game 13-of-22 passing for 147 yards with one touchdown both passing and rushing.

Central Michigan (3-3, 1-1 MAC) chipped away in the second half and made it a 24-18 game with Marion Lukes’... <Read More>