OHIO STATE 63 | PENN STATE 56
Buckeyes just win
Ohio State suffers through off game before rallying to beat Penn State
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH Ohio State’s J.J. Sullinger defends Penn State’s Geary Claxton during the second half.
NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH Penn State’s Geary Claxton and Ohio State’s Terence Dials jockey for position during a fight for the ball.
INDIANAPOLIS — All the excuses were there.
The Ohio State men’s basketball team was tired from an exhausting, monthlong march to the Big Ten championship.
The Buckeyes could have used an extra two days of rest to refuel for the NCAA Tournament next week.
They had nothing left to prove in a conference tournament played for fans and revenue.
They played like all of the above for almost 30 minutes yesterday. They failed to execute on offense or get back on defense. But when crunch time came, they couldn’t help but win.
"The competitive nature really took over," coach Thad Matta said. "They wanted to win down the stretch."
Twelve points behind Penn State with 13 minutes to play and shooting like sixth-graders against the Nittany Lions’ zone defense, the Buckeyes suddenly found the mark from outside. They rode the wave of energy it gave them at both ends of the court to a 63-56 victory in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal in Conseco Fieldhouse.
Sixth man Ron Lewis scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and made four of the Buckeyes’ eight three-point baskets after halftime.
Ohio State made eight of its last 14 threes — including six of its last eight — after missing 14 of 16 in the first half.
"Even if you don’t make any shots the first half, you’ve always got to come out the second half confident," Lewis said. "You don’t want any player on the floor that’s not confident in their shots or in their game."
The win put the No. 7-ranked Buckeyes (24-4), the tournament’s top seed, into a semifinal today against fifth-seeded Indiana (18-10), which beat fourthseeded Wisconsin 61-56 in another quarterfinal.
"We didn’t want to lose our first game here in the tournament," said center Terence Dials, who added 13 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double in the past eight games. "We came out, got it together on the court and played hard. Fortunately, we knocked down some shots and that got us going a little bit."
Penn State (15-14) got a game-high 18 points from Jamelle Cornley, a freshman from Brookhaven.
"They got in a rhythm and they are a senior-dominated team. We’re not that," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "Sometimes experience plays a critical part in this thing. They’ve got some experienced guys who stepped up and made some big plays."
Ohio State trailed 42-30 with 13:07 remaining before Lewis made the second of two threes in less than two minutes. The Buckeyes were still down nine, 45-36, before Matt Sylvester struck twice in 77 seconds from behind the arc, around a Penn State basket, to whittle the deficit to 47-42 with 8:44 left.
"We only needed one or two to kind of light the fire," Sylvester said. "I think the two that I hit kind of threw some gas on the fire and lifted the morale and confidence of the rest of the guys."
Lewis’ third three less than a minute later reduced the margin to two, and Jamar Butler’s three from the left wing at 5:52 gave the Buckeyes their first lead, 50-49.
They took the lead for good, 52-51, on Je’Kel Foster’s driving layup with 4:54 remaining and pulled away on threes by J.J. Sullinger and Lewis and a threepoint play by Lewis in the final four minutes.
"In the second half, we went to a different zone attack and it worked better because the ball went in the basket," Matta said. "We got the same exact shots, but, quite honestly, the difference was the ball went in. "A lot of times shooting becomes contagious. Fortunately for us, it became contagious."
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