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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Post Big Ten to 1-0 Lead in Big Ten vs. ACC Challenge with 69-56 Win Over Virginia Tech
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes (3-0) played one half about as well as they could play against Virginia Tech (5-2), and another that they would most likely like to forget. The good one was good enough to allow them to take a 69-56 win against Virginia Tech at the Value City Arena in the Big Ten vs. ACC challenge. The bad one left OSU Head Coach Thad Matta promising that though the Buckeyes might want to forget that second half, it just isn't going to happen.

"As coaches, trust me, we won't let them do that," said Matta.

The second half that Matta will remind his team of was one that was low-lighted by 11 Buckeye turnovers, a 29.2% shooting performance from the field, and just one assist. What made the half so shocking was that it followed a half in which the Buckeyes played perhaps as well as they could play. The Buckeyes racked up 12 assists and just two turnovers in the first 20 minutes and shot a sizzling 61.3% from the field that included six-for-11 from three point range to take a 46-25 lead at the intermission. Matta said that while he wouldn't let the Buckeyes forget the bad half, he wants them to remember the good half too.

"I think that for it being November 28, there were some great things that happened for us tonight, but then there were some things that weren't as good," said Matta.

"As I told them, this is a time that we can learn both from the positives and the negatives and become a better basketball team. One of the biggest travesties we could do to ourselves right now is say that first was it and not look at the second half," Matta said.

The game had just one tie (at 4) and the Hokies never led in the contest. The Buckeyes simply dominated in the first half, taking an eight point lead at 12-4, then withstanding a Virginia Tech mini-run that cut that lead to just one at 12-11.

The Buckeyes rebuilt a lead of seven with 6:37 remaining in the first half and appeared to be in a bit of trouble when Terence Dials went to the bench for the remainder of the half with his third foul. His replacement, little-used Matt Terwilliger, promptly hit a shot to put OSU up 31-22.

That shot seemed to ignite the Buckeyes who went on a 17-3 run with Dials on the bench to end the half and take a commanding 46-25 halftime lead. The run was fueled by a three pointer by Je'Kel Foster, two layups by J. J. Sullinger, and an acrobatic layup and two three-pointers by guard Sylvester Mayes, one of those three pointers coming after a blocked shot by Terwilliger.

"I thought Matt Terwilliger was very good tonight," said Matta.

"His intensity, the blocked shot, the rebound, the nice post move, that's something we need, because I want to make sure we can spell Terence and give him breaks," Matta said. "Matt and I talked at practice and I told him I wanted him to be very aggressive, and I thought he did a good job with that," Matta said.

"I thought that Sylvester Mayes gave us a tremendous lift," Matta added.

"We were active defensively, we had great spacing, the ball was moving, we had penetration, we had good post position and we were getting the ball inside. I'd be pretty happy if we could continue to build on that," said Matta of his team's effort in the first half.

What followed the half-ending outburst was almost bizarre. The team that couldn't be stopped in the first half suddenly could score, couldn't pass, couldn't inbound the ball, heck, they could barely catch.

"We lost our instincts momentarily," said Matta.

"We lost our flow. There was a stretch there where we couldn't execute. We were in the wrong spots, we come out of time out and didn't do what we had planned to do, and those are all areas we can get better at, there's no question about that," Matta said.

"We lost our flow in transition, I think we played a little too protective, we went into our prevent offense. We didn't have the same cutting, the same movement. During that stretch we got the ball where we wanted, we just didn't produce. We had shots at the rim, we had some open threes," said Matta.

"As the game wore on we were short on our shots, guys weren't stepping into them the way they were when things were going well.

"I was trying to be as encouraging as I could, saying we were up, lets go, but when you're struggling catching a pass as we were there, there were times we were talking about getting two hands on the ball and catch it," said Matta of how low his team sank in the second half. Matta added that while OSU did make it's share of mistakes, Virginia Tech had more-than a little to do with how the second half played out.

"I think that playing catchup they could take some chances, and we didn't make them play for the chances. They could gamble for a pass and deflect it, we'd catch it and say 'Whew, we completed another pass.' We weren't as good as we were, but they stepped up their defense in the second half. That was tremendous defense on their part. They came out and went after us."

What the Buckeyes did do consistently well throughout the game was play defense.

"I thought our defense for the most part was pretty good tonight," said Matta.

"I was happy holding a team like Virginia Tech to 56 points. I've got to give our defense some credit."

The Buckeyes staggered through most of the second half, and found their lead trimmed to just three at 59-56 with 2:40 remaining. They needed a spark, particularly on offense. What they got was more than a spark, more like a mini-bonfire.

Ron Lewis broke OSU's offensive drought with a a clutch three pointer to put the Buckeyes up by six. Lewis then hit one of two free throws to put OSU up by seven, and Matt Sylvester corralled the rebound on his miss of the second free throw for the stickback layup to extend the lead to to nine. Following two more misses at the offensive end by Virginia Tech, Lewis salted the game away with an old-fashioned three point play, scoring on a layup on which he was fouled to put OSU up by 11 and adding the free throw to extend the lead to 12 with just 53 seconds remaining in the game. OSU closed out the game on a 10-0 run when Dials connected on a free throw with 14 seconds remaining.

"Ron hit a big shot and Matt Sylvester's offensive rebound was huge." said Matta.

The late run made the final score appear more lopsided than the game actually was, but left Matta smiling despite the coaching he will have to do between now and OSU's next game on December 9 to correct his team's second-half ills.

"I do know this, I like teaching better from a win than from a loss,." Matta said.

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