CLEVELAND, OHIO--The second-seeded Ohio Bobcats defeated the third-seeded Western Michigan Broncos 71-60. The Bobcats advance to the MAC Championship where they will play the Akron Zips in a rematch of last year’s MAC Championship game. Ohio won last year’s championship game 64-63. Akron won both regular season meetings with Ohio this year.

 

In the first half, D.J. Cooper had nine points and eight assists. Ohio had 12 first half assists that led to 63 percent shooting and 77 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Cooper finished with 21 points and 10 assists for his sixth double-double of the season. Walter Offutt brought in a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

 

Western Michigan trailed by as many as 19, but cut the deficit to two on Shayne Whittington’s layup with 10:21 to play. The Bobcats responded with an 8-2 run to retake control.

 

Nate Hutcheson had 16 points in the Broncos losing effort. Darius Paul, Brandon Pokley and David Brown also scored in double figures. 

 

Ohio will play Akron at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN2.