Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Nip Hawks with Low Play
By John PorentasA great three point shooting effort from Devan Bawinkel almost carried the Iowa Hawkeyes (14-16, 4-13 Big Ten) to a win over Ohio State. Ironically, the Buckeyes (19-9, 9-8 Big Ten)) were able to outscore the Hawkeyes late in the game to claim the win by abandoning the three point shot and taking the basketball down low.
With11:37 left to play and the game tied at 44 OSU guard Jon Diebler missed a three point attempt. It turned out to be OSU's last three point attempt of the contest. From that point on, it was Iowa's three point shooting against the OSU strategy of getting to the hoop, either with entry passes down low or by putting the ball on the floor to get there for layups or dunks.
Over that last 11:37 OSU scored six baskets, three on dunks, two on layups, and one on a short jumper by Evan Turner in the paint. Combined with a great defensive play by Dallas Lauderdale with just seven seconds remaining, the scoring down low was just enough to allow the Buckeyes to claim a crucial 60-58 road win over the Hawkeyes.
"I thought the different in the game was the last two to three minutes. They were able to drive to the boards and we couldn't stop them from getting there," said Iowa Head Coach Todd Lickliter.
Over the last 2:28 the teams combined to score just one basket, a short jumper by OSU's Evan Turner in the paint that turned out to be the margin of victory, but the last 2:28 was far from boring.
Iowa's Jake Kelly missed a three with 55 seconds remaining, but Iowa got a break when Turner lost control of the basketball while trying to get to the rim and turned the ball over with 27 seconds remaining. The Hawkeyes looked like they would tie it up when Jermain Davis drove the baseline for what looked like an easy layup to tie the game, but Lauderdale rotated in the OSU zone to help and managed to register the blocked shot, his third of the game, to prevent the basket with just seven ticks remaining on the clock.
OSU controlled the missed layup and the Hawkeyes fouled Turner with five seconds remaining. Turner, however, missed the front end of the one and one.
Iowa hustled the ball down court and got it again to Davis, and once again it was Lauderdale who closed out on him and affected his three point attempt with one second on the clock just enough for it to bounce off the rim to give OSU the win.
"I think some guys made plays for us down the stretch," said Matta in his postgame remarks.
"Dallas Lauderdale made the play of the game with his block," he said in his television interview immediately following the game.
The win keeps alive OSU's hopes of securing a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament. Michigan State earned the top seed in the tournament with a win over Indiana in Bloomington to clinch the outright championship. The Spartans are currently 14-3 with one game left on their schedule. Purdue is currently 11-6 and Illinois 11-5, and both of those teams will also earn one of the five first-round byes.
The fourth and fifth spots are yet to be determined. Penn State and Wisconsin are both at 9-7 and Minnesota is 8-8 while OSU is 9-8.
The Nittany Lions must host Illinois and travel to Iowa to close out their season. Minnesota hosts Wisconsin and then Michigan, while Wisconsin will host Indiana after traveling to Minnesota.
OSU holds the tie breaker over Penn State by virtue of their win over the Nittany Lions in their only meeting of the year. If Wisconsin defeats Minnesota and Lions lose one of their last two remaining games, OSU would earn a first-round bye with a win in their season finale at home against Northwestern.
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