Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Use Strong Second Half to Defeat Kent 81-59
By John Porentas

For the first 16 minutes of OSU's BCA Classic Championship game pitting Ohio State (3-0) against Kent State (2-1) the Golden Flashes did just what their nickname implies, flashing to loose balls, flashing to the backboard to dominate the glass, and flashing around on defense to create turnovers. The Buckeyes also looked somewhat like their namesake, trees with roots firmly placed in the ground that didn't allow them to get around so well.

Kent State seemed to get every loose ball over those first 16 minutes, out-hustled the Buckeyes on the glass to the tune of a nine-board rebounding advantage in the first half (19-10) that included eight offensive boards to just two for OSU, and pressured the OSU offense into 15 first-half turnovers.

"For us to compete with a basketball team of this caliber as good as they are we have to try and out-hustle them as much as we can. I thought for the first 20 minutes we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game by doing that," said KSU Head Coach Jim Christian.

OSU Head Coach Thad Matta saw that too, and saw just about enough when the under-four minute media time out was taken. It's a good thing that the OSU huddle wasn't miked, because according to Matta, the discussion wasn't exactly G-rated.

"Honestly I don't know if I could repeat it in here," said Matta when asked what was said in that time out.

"It was more of letting them know that Kent State came to play and we weren't ready to play. They came ready to play and they knocked us a little bit. We needed that wake up and talked about taking care of the ball and getting more flow to our offense."

Kent State was up by three points when that time out took place. Following that time out the Buckeyes forced a turnover on a steal by Matt Terwilliger, got an offensive rebound after a missed shot at the other end, and worked their offense to get Ron Lewis a three-point attempt which he buried to tie the game. For all intents and purposes, it also signaled the end of the competitive portion of the game.

The Buckeyes went on to lead by six with 58 second remaining in the half, but a desperation buzzer-beating three pointer as the halftime horn sounded cut that lead back to three. The second half, however, was all Buckeyes. About two-and-a-half minutes into the second half OSU opened up a nine point lead with a 9-0 run and assumed control of the game. They did it by crashing the glass and stepping up their defensive intensity.

"Once they got involved on the backboard," said Christian when asked what the turning point of the game was.

"I was surprised at the way we responded," Matta said of his team's play for the final four minutes of the first half and throughout the second half.

"I thought we showed some toughness, I thought we showed some grit. We showed we can rebound the ball, we just have to do it all the time now."

The Buckeyes hit the glass hard enough in the second half to outrebound Kent by four. OSU increased it's offensive rebounding number from two in the first half to seven in the second leading to 19 second-chance points.

Offensively the Buckeyes were very effective shooting the basketball. OSU shot 54. per cent from the field and an even 50 per cent from three point range. Once the rebounding became close, OSU's edge in overall athleticism was too much for the Flashes to overcome.

"To Kent State's credit they came at us and knocked us on our heels there really the first 16 minutes," said Matta.

"He had those guys ready to play and we had to fight through a lot of adversity which I think was good for this team. It seemed like our upper classmen stepped up and it seemed like our upper classmen stepped up and David Lighty made some big plays down the stretch of the first half. I thought our defense in the second half was better."

For the second time in two days Ron Lewis led the OSU scoring attack. Lewis netted a game-high 18 points. Three other Buckeyes reached double figures including Jamar Butler with 14, Othello Hunter with 13 and David Lighty with 10. Hunter led all rebounders with eight.

OSU reached the championship game with an 87-75 win over Loyola of Chicago on Saturday. Lewis was the leading scorer in that game with 27 points and posted a double-double by adding 11 rebounds to his line. The Buckeyes shot nearly 53 per cent from three point range.

Lewis was named the tournament MVP for his three-game performance. He was joined on the all-tournament team by OSU's Daequan Cook.

"I think the MVP award is over-rated because it's a team game and everybody contributes into that (MVP award). You always have to give somebody the trophy but you have to give it to the team as well," said Lewis.

OSU forward Ivan Harris seemed to discover his stroke in the last two games of the tournament. Coming off the bench in both games, Harris made three-of-four three point attempts against Xavier then went three-of-six from beyond the arc against Kent State.

"Coach believes in my shot. When I come off the bench I don't think twice, I let it go," Harris said.

Loyola Box Score

Kent State Box Score

Kent State Photo Coverage

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