Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Hold on for Win Over Falcons
By John PorentasOSU guard Jon Diebler scored 17 points and Buckeye center Dallas Lauderdale blocked six shots to help the Buckeyes hold off a determined rally by the Bowling Green Falcons (3-2) and hang on for a 61-57 win over the visitors from from Northwest Ohio.
The Buckeyes (2-0) led throughout most the game and led by six at the half. They extended their lead to 13 in the second half on a jump shot by freshman William Buford to make the score 38-25 with 16:40 remaining in the game.
The Falcons refused to die and staged a determined rally sparked by a 10-1 run that saw the score go from 40-27 with 15:13 remaining to 41-37 with 13:16 still left on the clock.
"I thought we did a good job of getting stops and converting in transition," said BGSU Head Coach Louis Orr. "I thought our guards did a really good job of pushing the ball and attacking in the second half."
The Falcons continued to chip away and eventually took the lead at 50-49 with 5:01 remaining. From that point on, however, the Buckeyes regained control of the game. A three point play by Lauderdale put them back up by two and after a Bowling Green turnover, Diebler hit a three to make the score 57-50.
"When you're playing on the road every possession counts, especially down the stretch," said Orr.
"You fight and claw. Our guys didn't quit fighting."
The Falcons cut it back to two with 11 seconds remaining in the game when Brian Moten hit a three pointer for B.G. to make the score 59-57, but OSU junior David Lighty canned two free throws with just six seconds remaining to ice the victory. Prior to those free throws Lighty was 0-3 from the free throw line and just 1 of five from the field, but knocked down both shots at crunch time to seal the win.
"I missed the first three (free throws) so I had to make something," quipped Lighty of his clutch shots despite his overall cold night shooting. We needed them," Lighty said.
"B. G. is an excellent team. They played extremely hard tonight," said Diebler."
"They kept battling," agreed Turner. "They got a couple of loose balls and hit a couple of shots.They ran their offense and it was clicking for them tonight. That happens. That's what basketball is, a game of runs," Turner said.
Orr credited the defense of Lauderdale in determining the outcome of the game. Lauderdale blocked six shots and discouraged the Falcons in the paint when they got the ball down low.
"He had six blocks, they had nine total, and I guarantee you probably eight of those nine, if they don't block the shots, they're baskets. He's a difference makers on the defensive end. He's a guy that can be a presence in the paint. If you can't get layups and score layups around the basket your field goal percentage is going to be down," Orr said. "He's got a gift. If he gets half of those blocks and we score three more buckets, that's the difference in the game. He's a difference maker on the defensive end."
"He really saved us a couple of times," agreed OSU Head Coach Thad Matta. "He's a presence down there."
Diebler led all scorers with his 17 points. In high school he was known as an outside shooter with a deadly three point shot, but had trouble connecting from long range last year. Against the Falcons he showed the ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim for layups. He also went three for seven from three point range.
"The one thing I worked on in the off-season was the head fake because I shot a lot of threes last year, so people are going to expect me to shoot threes," said Diebler of his ability to get past his defender for easy shots in close.
"He's more confident," said Mata. "He's slowed down in his mind and he's seeing things a lot better. I think he feels a lot more comfortable out there now. We needed him out there tonight and he really was sound all the way through," Matta said.
Evan Turner added 12 points for Ohio State and Buford scored nine in 16 minutes of play. Buford also added three steals to his night's work.
Bowling Green was led by guard Brian Moten with 16 points and guard Darryl Clements with 13.
The Falcons outrebounded the taller Buckeyes by a 39-34 count. Their 39 caroms included 13 offensive boards. Clements led all rebounders with nine. Lauderdale led the Buckeye rebounding effort with seven.
Matta was not particularly pleased with the play of his team, but was glad to get the win.
"I think we had some stretches where we played pretty good basketball both offensively and defensively, but what my mind will go to is 'Why did we have the lapses that we had?' We're not going to hold a team like Bowling Green scoreless and we're not going to score every time down, but what we have to strive for is consistency," Matta said.
"At times I thought our guys had cement shoes on. There was no communication in the back line, there was no fire there, but those are things that we can get corrected."
"I think that we beat a very, very good basketball team," said Matta. "I think we'll look back at this game a good win."
Neither team shot particularly well. Ohio State shot 40 percent from the field, Bowling Green 39 percent
Game Notes:
* Sophomore guard Evan Turner left the game briefly with a blood nose. Turner said that was a bit of a new experience for him.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "When we were trapping David Lighty hit me with his hand and I got my first-ever bloody nose. It was kind of gross and cool at the same time," said Turner.
* Freshman William Buford had another strong with nine points and three steals off the bench.
"I thought Will really gave us a boost tonight," said Matta. "He came in and really ignited us," Mata said, but then added that it wasn't quite all roses with Buford.
"He got those two steals in transition and he was the guy responsible when they drove down and shot the layup. He was going to go for steal number three there and the guy blitzed him and shot a layup."
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