Ohio State vs. Youngstown State 2016 final score: Ohio State dominates YSU, 77-40
Max Littman via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Buckeyes shine on boards and defense to roll past Youngstown State.
After a close but still tough loss to UCLA in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Ohio State was looking to come together as a team against Youngstown State and continue to gear up for the Big Ten season. That they did as they came out to a blistering start and never looked back while leaving the Penguins in the dust, winning 77-40.
The game didn't quite start out the way the Bucks were looking for though, Ohio State freshman starting Center, Micah Potter, went down injured on the games opening tip-off. He appeared to come down hard and roll it on the floor before coming out of the game.
After the tip-off though the game started to fall in Ohio State’s way as they went on an impressive run and just 12 minutes were up 27-5. The Bucks dominance continued into the half with a 42-14 lead.
The lead was characterized by OSU’s dominating defense, which held Youngstown State to just 14.8% shooting in the first half. On the opposite end of the spectrum OSU shot a very solid 48.5% in the first half which led to their strong start.
In the first half OSU Center, Trevor Thompson, dominated the boards with 12 first half rebounds, an almost unheard of number for one half of play. Elsewhere for Ohio State in the first half Kam Williams started strong with a dunk, 3-pointer, and layup to put up 7 first half points.
For Youngstown State the first half was full of struggles, especially from their highly though of Guard Francisco Santiago. In the first half alone he was a dissaopinting 0-3 with a turnover. The teams second leading scorer had been averaging 13.2 points a game going in and could not get anything started for their offense. The rest of the team barely fared any better in the half, as they struggled on offense and defense.
To start the second half Ohio State appeared to cool down considerably, although they had such a large lead it hardly seemed to matter. Youngstown State closed the Ohio State lead down to 57-30, 8 minutes into the second half before the Buckeyes seemed to wake up and start dominating again.
Ohio State’s gameplay was highlighted by strong play in the point, with an impressive 48 points in the paint. This was on top of 62% shooting percentage for them down low to really lead the way for the offense.
Sophomore Forward Keita Beites-Diop lead the inside scoring threat for the Bucks with 15 points in the game, primarily coming from the paint.
On top of that Trevor Thompson got his double-double in the second half after getting even more rebounds and with 5:13 left in the half already had 11 points and 15 rebounds. After a impressive 17 point and 17 rebound performance in the win against UCONN he proved his huge stats are not a fluke and simply dominated YSU along the boards.
The second half continued to be dominated by the Buckeyes as outside of some light scoring YSU couldn’t stop Ohio State in the paint. They finished shooting just 21% from the floor compared to the Buckeyes respectable 50% for the game.
The basketball Bucks return to action Thursday against UNC Asheville at 9:00 PM EST from Value City Arena. The game will be only be broadcast via the radio from 97.1 FM.
Three things we learned:
1. Trevor Thompson is scary good on the boards.
The junior was incredibly good from the boards finishing with 15 rebounds and 11 points. Him playing lights out close to the rim is a tremendous boost for the Buckeye offense and led the way in the first half.
2. The buckeyes can distribute.
Three different players for Ohio State put up 15 points in the game and that all came with Jaquan Lyle putting up 10 assists. His passing ability shined through and further allowed the Buckeyes to break through on offense and dominate YSU from end to end. All in all with 27 points from the bench and 48 points in the paint OSU relied on scoring from almost everyone and showed that they can be lethal on offense.
3. Defense, defense, defense
Ohio State led a stifling defense today and really were able to shut down YSU. Holding any opponent to 21% will win a game, especially when the opposition is only shooting 4-27 in the first half. On top of that the Buckeyes had a very impressive 9 blocks with 3 a piece from Trevor Thompson, David Bell, and Keita Bates-Diop. You can’t lose if you don’t let the opponents score and Ohio State capitalized on their strong interior and exterior defense to shutdown YSU and fully dominate the game.
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