Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Get Lift From Terwilliger to Pull Away from Lions in Second Half
By John Porentas

For a half it was a dead-even dog fight.

The Buckeyes (15-6, 6-2 Big Ten) and Nittany Lions (10-10, 2-6 Big Ten) battled it out for a half and ended up in a dead-even tie in almost every possible. After seven lead changes, five ties, and 20 minutes of sweating the game was even in almost every statistical category including the score, 34-34. The question that remained was which team would assert itself after the intermission.

"For whatever reason we didn't have the energy defensively in the first half," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

"They crushed us in transition and making shots. Fortunately for us we were able to get our offense going there a little bit. The challenge for us in the second half was to play a little bit harder, play a little bit smarter."

For the first 9:27 of the second half, it looked like the answer to that question was nobody. Then the Buckeyes bent their knees. No, not to pray for a break during a time out, but to turn up the defensive heat on the Nittany Lions.

"We bent our knees, that's what coach says. We had a talk in the locker room that we had to get going," said OSU senior guard Jamar Butler. "We got out in the passing lanes and tried to make plays."

With their knees deeply flexed in defensive mode, the Buckeyes held Penn State scoreless for 10 minutes and 16 seconds during a stretch in the second half. In that time frame the score went from 44-40 Penn State lead to a lead of 56-44 for OSU. The Buckeyes had asserted themselves once and for all, and the Lions couldn't recover.

Not surprisingly, when the Buckeyes started finding success on the defensive end, their offense soon followed led by senior guard Jamar Butler with a good dose of help from fellow senior Matt Terwilliger. In a role that is starting to become familiar, Terwilliger once again came off the OSU bench to help energize the Buckeyes. In OSU's 16-0 run Butler scored eight points and added an assist while Terwilliger registered a timely blocked shot, a dunk, a rebound, and solid defense. Terwilliger finished with 10 points in 19 minutes of play.

"He hit a big three down there and had a nice finish in transition, but the play I liked the most was the blocked shot he had where he got the guy from behind and we came up with the ball," said Matta.

"At half time we talked about we needed energy," said Terwilliger. "Sometimes you need just one play that will spark everyone to get going. When I came in I just wanted to be that person to get us going and get us on a run and start playing the way we should be playing," Terwilliger said.

"I'll take that role," said Terwilliger, "whatever we need to do to keep on winning, that's all I want to do."

Terwilliger's infusion of energy was the only thing that really changed, but it was exactly what the Buckeyes needed to make their run.

"It was just effort. We didn't make any changes at all," said Butler. "Guys just got out and made plays."

Butler led all scorers with 20 while Talor Blake paced Penn State with 15. Center Kosta Koufos joined Butler and Terwilliger as double-figure scorers with 10 points. Butler also registered a game-high six assists and played all 40 minutes of the game.

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