Columbus, Ohio – A regular season that ended with a couple of impressive wins led right into a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament win for the fifth-seeded University of Findlay men's basketball team who rolled into Columbus, Ohio and won 76-64, spoiling the party for the fourth-seeded Ohio Dominican Panthers on Tuesday, March 3. The Oilers now have a record of 18-11 on the year while ODU's historic season, in which it earned a home conference tournament game for the first time in program history, comes to an end at 19-10. It was the third time this season that these two teams met with each team winning earlier in the year on their home floor.
This is Findlay's first quarterfinal win since 2022. That year the Oilers went on to play Walsh University in the semifinals, which they will do again this year.
Trailing 39-36 at the break, Findlay leaned into a recent trend of dominating second half play. Before tonight's tip-off, the Oilers were just 3-9 on the season when trailing at halftime, though one of those wins occurred just three days ago against Ashland.
Tonight was similar as the Oilers dominated the final 20 minutes to outscore the Panthers 40-25 in the closing frame. In the last two games combined, UF has outscored its' opponents in the second half by a score of 85-43.
The momentum shift began with a layup from Anthony Johnson to cut the deficit to one. Moments later, Jagger Landers stepped to the line and sank a pair of free throws to give the Oilers a 46-45 lead they would never relinquish. The first of those two free-throws was the 1,000th point of Landers' career.
From there, Josh Thorbahn completely caught fire from beyond the arc. Javonte Hill ignited the barrage with a steal, finding Thorbahn in transition for a fast break three-pointer. After a single free throw from Ohio Dominican, Thorbahn drilled another triple off an assist from Max Roth, and then buried a third three-pointer just under a minute later off a feed from Steele Meister.
Thorbahn's scoring spurt capped the run and pushed the Oilers to a commanding 55-46 advantage with 12:37 left to play. The Oilers maintained firm control the rest of the way. A layup by Landers with under three minutes remaining stretched the lead to its largest margin of the night at 12 points, putting the game firmly out of reach at 71-59.
During the game, Jagger Landers became the 53rd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Landers finished the night with 10 points and a pair of rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
The Oilers utilized a balanced offensive attack to secure the road win, with Mekhi Elmore and Anthony Johnson leading the team in scoring with 14 points apiece. Elmore also anchored the defense with a game-high three steals while pulling down four rebounds. Steele Meister scored 11 points on highly efficient 5-of-8 shooting and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Josh Thorbahn provided a massive spark off the bench, scoring nine points by sinking three of his four attempts from beyond the arc.
The Oilers' offense was clicking, shooting an impressive 55.6 percent from the floor on 30-of-54 shooting , while Ohio Dominican was held to 43.1 percent on 22-of-51 shooting. Findlay relentlessly attacked the rim, winning the interior battle with 42 points in the paint compared to the Panthers' 30. The defensive pressure from the Oilers forced 17 ODU turnovers , converting those extra opportunities into 18 points off turnovers. Additionally, Findlay's reserves made a massive impact, outscoring Ohio Dominican's bench 26-18.
Findlay will now head to North Canton, Ohio where they will take on the regular season champion and No. 14 team in the country, Walsh University. That game will tip off at 5:00 pm.
