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Men's Basketball
Diebler Three Helps Bucks to Victory in Battle with Penn State
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS – Jon Diebler hit only one shot Wednesday, but he made it count.
Jon Diebler lets fly with a clutch jumper to put away the Nittany Lions.
Photo by Jim DavidsonWith his team clinging to a 65-62 lead late in the game against visiting Penn State, the all-time leading scorer in Ohio high school history stepped up and made his first and only shot of the game with 1:30 to play.
It could not have come at a better time for Diebler and the 13th-ranked Buckeyes, as it keyed a 10-0 run by Ohio State (17-6, 7-3 Big Ten) to close out their 75-62 win over the Nittany Lions (8-14, 0-10) at Value City Arena.
“I knew he had to make it – he’s a shooter, it’s what he does,” said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta, who got a close-up look at Diebler’s dagger.
“He had a tough night scoring, but I told him to keep taking good looks and eventually one will fall. He showed good poise to be able to step up and knock it down.”
The shot – a three-pointer from the top left side of the arc right in front of the Ohio State bench – came on the heels of an 11-2 run by Penn State. It overshadowed a halftime dunk by OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who may have otherwise had the most talked-about play of the night.
“I know you're not going to make every shot. That's just part of the game,” said Diebler, who missed his first six shots of the game.
“I knew one was bound to go in at one time or another, so my plan was just to keep shooting.”
Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis said after the game that his team was trying to foul center Dallas Lauderdale on the play to send him to the free throw line – where he is shooting 44 percent this season – but Diebler pulled up and knocked down a three and the Nittany Lions never scored another point.
“Sometimes you have to pick your poison. We wanted to put a body on Lauderdale and try to get him to the line, but that didn’t work and we didn’t cover Diebler,” said a disgruntled DeChellis after the game.
“We obviously didn’t know he would be there and he hit the shot. That just seems to be how it’s going this year.”
After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the first 20 minutes, the Nittany Lions trailed 36-24 at the half thanks to 20 combined points from William Buford (11) and David Lighty (9) in the first half.
At that point, it looked like the game was all but over considering PSU was winless in the Big Ten and the Buckeyes were beating teams by an average of 29 points per game at home with Evan Turner in the lineup.
But the Nittany Lions got back in the game against the heavily-favored Buckeyes thanks to a big second half from point guard Talor Battle, who finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“We obviously didn't play our best, but you have to give Penn State credit. I thought they did a nice job of attacking our defense,” Diebler said of the Nittany Lions, who shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half.
“We know we can do a lot to improve on this game so we'll have to go back and look at the film.”
But Turner was not to be outdone; especially not on his home floor, where the Buckeyes are 14-0 this season.
After deferring to Buford and Lighty in the first half, Turner took over the game down the stretch the way great finishers are supposed to. With Battle lighting it up inside at one end, Turner went to work on the Penn State defense, scoring 21 of his 27 points in the second half while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists.
“It was kind of a USA Basketball showcase out there. Obviously, they’re both tremendous players and they showed that tonight,” Matta said of Battle and Turner.
“Both of them played well tonight and they made everyone on their teams better,” added DeChellis.
“It was fun to see two of this league’s best players face off and go at it.”
The difference was that Turner’s performance led the Buckeyes to their sixth-straight conference win, while Battle’s team fell to 0-10 in the Big Ten.
Ohio State will look to make it seven in a row Sunday when they welcome Iowa to Columbus (noon ET, Big Ten Network).
Game Notes:
* The Buckeyes are 14-0 in Value City Arena this season. They are 7-1 against Penn State in the Schott.
* Thad Matta has a career record of 11-0 vs. Penn State. They are the only Big Ten school Matta is undefeated against.
* The team is shooting 53.5 percent from the field (410-of-765) and 41.8 percent from behind the arc (126-of-301) at home this season.
* The Buckeyes were 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) from the field and 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from behind the arc in the first half.
* Evan Turner finished the game with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
* In the second half, Turner scored his 1,200th point as a Buckeye (1,207). He also passed Jim Jackson and moved into No. 21 all-time on the Ohio State rebounding list (560).
* William Buford was 4-of-4 from the field with one three-pointer (11 points) and four assists in the first half. He finished with 19 points to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
* Dallas Lauderdale connected on 2-of-2 field-goal attempts. For the season, he is shooting 66-of-86 from the field (76.7 percent), tops in the Big Ten. He is 41-of-49 (83.6 percent) at Value City Arena this season
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