The second-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes concluded their 2005-2006 season losing to the seventh-seeded Georgetown Hoyas 70-52 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Dayton Arena, Sunday afternoon.

Ohio State finished a great season with an overall record of 26-6 and were the Big Ten regular season champions with a conference record of 12-4. The Buckeyes also finished second the Big Ten tournament.

Basketball fans saw four seniors play their last game in scarlet and gray uniforms. Terence Dials, Matt Sylvester, J.J. Sullinger, and Je’Kel Foster. Returning for next year are scholarship players Ron Lewis, Jamar Butler, Ivan Harris, Matt Terwilliger, Sylvester Mayes, and Brayden Bell.

Next year, the “Thad Five” will don the Buckeye colors with incoming freshman Greg Oden leading the way. Joining the 7-foot center his will be his high school teammate, 6-foot-1 point guard Mike Conley, along with 6-6 swingman David Lighty and 6-foot-4 shooting guard Daequan Cook. Rounding out the recruiting class is 6-foot-9 junior college transfer Othello Hunter.

With so much to look forward to next season, the 2005-06 season was one great ride. Predicted to finished anywhere from fourth to sixth in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes surprised everyone by winning the regular season conference title. The Buckeyes were rewarded at the end as Dials was named Big Ten Player of the Year, and Matta was named Coach of the Year.

One wonder, that given the lack of depth on the team, that the Buckeyes just ran out of gas. After a very important win at Michigan State on February 22, the competition was less than stellar.

Ohio State had to rally in the closing moments to defeat Northwestern, though they handily won over last-place Purdue. Penn State gave the Buckeyes some problems in the second round of the Big Ten tournament before OSU pulled out a seven point win.

The Buckeyes had enough in the tank for the Big Ten semifinals to fend off Indiana in a very tight game, but sputtered in losing to Iowa in the conference tournament championship game.

After having to rally against 15th-seeded Davidson in the second half, Ohio State matched up against a team that was bigger and just as athletic as Georgetown gave the Buckeyes their worst defeat of the season.

It’s now less than seven months before practice begins for next season. Hello, Mr. Oden, welcome to Columbus. Please stay as long as you like.

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In the days leading up to the game, there were several references that this matchup between the basketball teams from The Ohio State University and Davidson College as “David versus Goliath.”

In this modern day version that was played at the University of Dayton Arena, “David” resembled Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, only taller, and his name is Ian Johnson.

Johnson, a 6-foot-9 senior forward was able to score 26 points, thanks to a goofy-looking, shot put-style, jump hook shot. Unfortunately, he and his Davidson teammates did not have enough stones to slay the second-seeded “Goliath” known as Ohio State.

While the giant slumbered through the first half, it woke up during the second 20-minutes of action thanks to the play Terence Dials, Ron Lewis, and J.J. Sullinger to fend off the pesky little school from North Carolina as Ohio State went on to defeat Davidson 70-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Minneapolis Regional.

Both Dials and Lewis finished the game with 19 points, but the bulk of that offensive output came in the second half. Lewis chipped in 16, and Dials 13 in the final period of play. Dials also finished a double-double with 13 rebounds. Sullinger also joined the Dub-Dub Club with a baker’s dozen in both points and boards.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with three ties and five lead changes throughout.

With the score tied at 20-all, Davidson’s Kenny Grant nailed a triple and swingman Brendan Winters scored on a layup to give the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game at 25-20 with 3:59 left.

A pair of short jumpers in the lane by Dials and Sullinger, along with one of two free throws made by Lewis tied the game once again at 25-all with 2:43 remaining.

Davidson scored the final four points of the half to take a 29-25 lead into intermission.

Big “Mo” (as in momentum) would be on the side of the Wildcats for about the first six minutes of the second half, but it swung mightily towards Ohio State thanks to Lewis.

Davidson’s Jason Morton scored on a layup with 14:03 remaining to play in the game, pushing the Wildcat lead to 35-32. But two deep trifectas by Lewis, one at 13:44 and the other with 12:41 remaining that turned what was a three-point deficit into a three-point lead quickly. The Buckeyes never trailed from that point on in the game.

The Buckeyes shot just 29.7 percent for the first half, going 11-of-37 from the floor and 1-of-14 from beyond the arc. But Ohio State improved those numbers greatly in the second stanza, shooting 53.6 percent from the field on 15-of-28 shooing and 4-of-8 from downtown.

For the game, Ohio State had an even 40.0 percent field goal percentage on 26-of-65 shooting, while Davidson finished shooting 38.2 percent (26-of-68) from the floor. Both teams were 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from three-point range.

Davidson’s leading scorer, Brendan Winters, finished the game with 10 points, the only other Wildcat to finished with double digits.

“I thought we played, obviously, much better in the second half. I didn’t do a very good job of getting these guys ready to go to understand just what it took. We were slow to balls. We were slow to rebounds. The last four points we gave of the first half were tap-back-ins. The challenge at halftime was to pick up our intensity,” Head coach Thad Matta said after the game.

“Offensively, we felt like we had to put the ball in the basket. It had to go in for us. Ron [Lewis] gave us a great boost. Terence [Dials] down low did a tremendous job. I thought James’ [J.J. Sullinger] activity all over the court was probably the difference.”

“Ian Johnson, as I told Terence [Dials], I don’t have answers for a twelve-foot jump hook shot that hits nothing but the net every time. He played well. I’m telling you this right now, we beat a tremendous basketball team. I told our players after the game, the greatest words you can hear in college basketball is `Ohio State advances’, and that’s what we’ve done,” Matta continued.

Up next, Ohio State advances to play the seventh-seeded Georgetown Hoyas (22-9), Sunday afternoon at UD Arena. Tip-off time is scheduled for 4:50 pm ET.

Georgetown advanced by defeating the 10th-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers 54-49. The Hoyas were led by 7-foot-2 sophomore center Roy Hibbert, who scored 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds. 6-foot-2 senior guard Ashanti Cook scored 14, the only other Hoya to score in double figures.

Hibbert (11.4 ppg) is tied for second on the team in scoring with 6-foot-9 senior forward Brandon Bowman, and 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Jeff Green leads the Hoyas averaging 11.6 points per game. Cook averages 9.9 points per game.

Rounding out the starting five is 6-foot-1 guard Jonathan Wallace, who averages 8.3 points per contest.

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The NCAA Selection Committee announced on Sunday that the Ohio State Buckeyes will stay close to home for the first and second round games of the NCAA Tournament.

Earning a second seed in the Minneapolis Regional, the Buckeyes will face 15th-seed Davidson at UD Arena in Dayton on St. Patrick’s Day. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:15 pm ET.

Davidson, earning the automatic bid by defeating Chattanooga 80-55 in the championship game of Southern Conference tournament, is led by 6-5 senior swingman Brendan Winters.

Winters led the Wildcats by scoring 33 points in the title game against the Mocs and averages 17.1 points per game on the season. His father, Brian, played nine seasons in the NBA and was a two-time All-Star.

The Wildcats finished the regular season with a record 20-10, and came in second place in the South Division of the conference with a record of 10-5.

Davidson played an extremely difficult non-conference schedule. The college, located in North Carolina just north of the city of Charlottle, played in-state powerhouses Duke and North Carolina.

The Blue Devils routed the Wildcats at Cameron Indoor by a score of 84-55, and the Tar Heels took care of business at the Dean Dome winning 82-58. Davidson also traveled to the Carrier Dome and lost to the eventual Big East tournament champion Syracuse Orange 90-80.

At the friendly confines of Belk Arena on the Davidson campus, the Wildcats defeated Massachusetts 66-63, and Missouri 82-73.

Ohio State and Davidson share one common opponent, the St. Joseph’s Hawks. The Buckeyes traveled to Philadelphia and defeated St. Joe’s 81-74 at The Palestra two weeks after the Hawks made the trip to Davidson, losing to the Wildcats 100-94 in overtime.

Other players to watch for Davidson are 6-foot-9 forward Ian Johnson, who is second on the team in scoring averaging 15.7 points per game, and is second in rebounding at a 6.2 boards per game clip. Surprisingly, he is Davidson’s best three-point shooter making 43.1 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.

Two key players come off the bench for Davidson, one is a scorer and the other is a rebounder. 6-foot-2 senior guard Jason Morton is third on the team in scoring with a 10.2 points per game average, while 6-8 sophomore forward Boris Meno is the team’s best glass cleaner averaging 6.6 rebounds per game.

Ohio State’s three-point shooting is going to have to improve in a hurry if they expect to avoid a first round upset. Davidson is 10th in the nation in three-pointers made, averaging 9.1 per game. As a team, they have hoisted the rock 727 times from beyond the arc. Over a course of 30 games, that’s 24.2 times per contest! For the season, Davidson shoots 37.3 percent from long range.

By the way, Ohio State is 23rd with an average of 8.6 three-pointers made per game and have shot 38.8 percent from downtown this season, good for 28th place.

In Sunday’s Big Ten tournament final, Thad Matta and his Ohio State basketball team ran out of gas with six minutes and 32 seconds to play as the Iowa Hawkeyes outscored the Buckeyes 14-3 the rest of the way to earn the conference’s tournament championship.

The Buckeyes led most the the game, and by as many as nine points in the first half after jumper by Jamar Butler with 4:15 put Ohio State ahead 34-25.

The Hawkeyes trimmed down the deficit and trailed 37-34 at intermission.

In the second half, the Buckeyes had an answer every time the Hawkeyes scored during the first 13 minutes. Then OSU’s needle went on “E.”

With Ohio State ahead 57-52, Iowa’s Jeff Horner netted a three-pointer that was followed with a tip-in by center Erek Hansen which tied the game with 4:58 left to play in the game.

A layup by Horner with 4:26 remaining and a three-point field goal along the baseline by reserve guard Alex Thompson sealed the fate for the Buckeyes.

In the end, it seemed the fatigue had set in with the missed shots, turnovers, and the lack of defense displayed by the Buckeyes. Granted, Ohio State has just nine scholarship players on the roster, as noted by Matta in his post-game comments.

“I’m proud of our guys. I think it was pretty obvious we ran out of gas there down the stretch. We just didn’t have enough to finish it off with nine scholarship players here. I couldn’t be proud enough of the effort these guys brought and the intensity they played with. We put ourselves in position to win the game but (Iowa) made the plays down the stretch and we went cold. We could not get one to go in. As I told the team, by no means do we get down. We shift into another gear and get ourselves ready to play in the NCAA Tournament,” Matta said after the game.

One thing is for sure, if you get into Matta’s doghouse, it’s hard to get out of it. Ivan Harris seemed to be there earlier in the season, while Sylvester Mayes seems to be in it now. And it is apparent that Matta has absolutely no confidence in freshman center Brayden Bell.

One wonders if Ohio State got into any more foul trouble that Matta would of pulled a “Coach Norman Dale” and played with four players.

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This Big Ten Conference tournament semifinal matchup was like a heavyweight bout, champion versus contender.

While the champion withstood a series of blows in the final round, it was a knockout punch with 36 seconds left that won it.

That knockout punch was delivered by Matt Sylvester, who has a knack of coming up with clutch shots at the end of the game. This shot, though, was a layup not a three-pointer as the seventh-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes held on for a 52-51 win over the Indiana Hoosiers.

J.J. Sullinger led the Buckeyes with 19 points and 13 rebounds as the regular season champion will play for the tournament title Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Tip-off time is scheduled for 3:30 pm.

Ohio State scored the game’s first eight points, and Indiana did not score until Roderick Wilmont’s layup at the 15:12 mark of the first half.

The Buckeyes were plagued by poor shooting once again, and the Hoosiers were able to get off the canvas to go on a 10-0 scoring run after Ohio State’s eight straight points to begin the game.

It was a tight battle throughout the first half with no team holding more than a four point advantage, and after a layup by Indiana guard Earl Calloway with 38 seconds left, the Hoosiers headed into the locker room leading 26-25.

But the second half belong to Ohio State and J.J. Sullinger, who scored 13 of his 19 in the final 20 minutes. In fact, those 13 points all came in the first six-plus minutes of the period, and he was the only Buckeye to score during that stretch as Ohio State took a 38-30 lead following a layup by Sullinger with 13:52 left to play in the game.

Indiana’s Robert Vaden scored on a jumper on the Hoosiers’ next possession, but Ohio State’s Ron Lewis drained a triple from the right wing the next time down the court to give the Buckeyes their biggest lead of the game at 41-32 with 13:07 remaining.

The Hoosiers chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the game at 47-all after a conventional three-point play by Calloway with 3:47 left.

Dials then made a nice move to the basket and scored on a layup while avoiding an offensive foul, and guard Jamar Butler made one of two free throws to put Ohio State ahead 50-47 with 2:50 remaining.

Indiana scored the next four points, one on a short jumper by Killingsworth in the paint, and another bucket when Wilmont drove the baseline and scored on a layup with 1:50 left to put the Hoosiers ahead 51-50.

Both teams missed open jumpers before Ohio State came down the court trailing by a point and needing a basket.

Ohio State’s Je’Kel Foster missed a trey with 54 seconds left before Lewis gathered up the loose ball and called timeout.

Eventually, Dials got the ball about 12 feet away from the basket towards the left wing, who found Sylvester cutting towards the left block for the game-winning layup with 36 seconds to play.

Indiana called a timeout with 25 seconds left to set up a play. The ball went to Killingsworth, who missed a short jump hook with five ticks on the clock, and the ball was tipped and eventually rebounded by Wilmont.

Wilmont’s jumper from about eight feet away with two seconds remaining hit the front of the rim and the miss was hauled down by Sullinger at the buzzer.

But there is nothing better that beating the Hoosiers, whether it is in Bloomington, Columbus, or in this case, Indianapolis, which is even better still since it’s in the tournament. This win avenges Ohio State’s lost to Indiana after the Buckeyes got homered with five seconds left in Bloomington back in January.

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Though he did not play hoops, hockey great Wayne Gretzky famous quote applies not only to the Ohio State basketball team, but to life in general.

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” the Great One is known as saying.

Ohio State guard Jamar Butler summed it up this way, “Live by the three, die by the three.”

Ohio State defeated tPenn State as those threes started falling in the second half, led by Ron Lewis who scored 17 points, as the seventh-ranked Buckeyes downed the Nittany Lions 63-56 in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Friday afternoon.

Ohio State was just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc in the first half, and the Buckeyes missed their first four attempts to begin the second half.

Then those shots Ohio State had missed began to find the bottom of the net.

Facing Penn State’s accordion-style 2-3 zone defense, the Nittany Lions scored the game’s first seven points and led until OSU’s Butler hit a three that tied the game at 15-all with 6:26 left in the first half.

After both teams turned the ball over, Penn State’s Jamelle Cornley scored on a short jumper to put the Nittany Lions back on top.

Penn State held on to lead 27-24 at the intermission break.

Penn State added on to the lead during the first seven minutes of the second half, and with 13:07 left in the game, a three-pointer by Mike Walker gave the Nittany Lions its’ biggest margin of the game at 42-30.

Then Ohio State began making their threes, two by Lewis, two by Matt Sylvester, and the last one capped off a 20-7 scoring run as Butler connected from downtown to give the Buckeyes its’ first lead of the game at 50-49 with 5:53 remaining.

Penn State came right back and scored on their next possession, but a triple by J.J. Sullinger on Ohio State’s next trip down the court put the Buckeyes ahead for good at 55-51 with 3:48 left.

Cornley’s jumper with 2:45 remaining put the Nittany Lions within a bucket, but Lewis drained another trey on the next possession.

Along with Lewis in double figures was senior center Terence Dials, who scored 13 points and had a team-high 10 rebounds.

Penn State was led by Cornley, who scored 18 points.

Up next, Ohio State hopes to avenge the loss at Bloomington earlier this year as they take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten tournament semifinals at Conseco Fieldhouse. Tip-off time is at 4:05 pm ET.

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Swingman Geary Claxton scored 17 points and hauled down 10 rebounds to lead the Penn State Nittany Lions to a 60-42 rout of the Northwestern Wildcats in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Thursday afternoon.

Penn State scored the game’s first nine points and led 31-21 at halftime. The Nittany Lions led by as many as 26 in the second half after guard Travis Parker scored on a jumper to put Penn State ahead 55-29.

Parker finished with 10 points, as did guard Mike Walker for the Nittany Lions.

The Wildcats were led by Mohamed Hachad who scored 16 points. Vedran Vukusic added 10 for Northwestern

Defensively, Penn State held Northwestern to 16-of-50 (32.0 percent) shooting from the field, including 7-for-26 (26.7 percent) in the second half. Northwestern was 7-of-31 (22.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

“I thought defensively our guys played a very good game tonight. We’ve worked hard the last three days in trying to find No. 11 (Vedran Vukusic), No. 20 (Craig Moore) and No. 24 (Evan Seacat). We also really worked hard at trying to keep (Mohamed) Hachad off the glass. Defensively I thought we were very, very good this afternoon,” Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said after the game.

Penn State will now face number-one seed Ohio State, Friday afternoon. Tip-off time at Conseco Fieldhouse is at 12:00 pm ET.

“For tomorrow’s game, we have to come out ready to play. We just have to work hard as a team and just have fun. We have improved a lot since the last time we played them. It’s going to be an interesting game. We just have to keep fighting,” Claxton said about facing the Buckeyes.

In other first round games in the Big Ten Tournament, Maurice Hargrow scored 15 points and Zach Puchtel added a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Golden Gophers to a 59-55 win over the Michigan Wolverines, Thursday afternoon.

Dion Harris led Michigan with 16 points and Daniel Horton added 14.

Maurice Ager scored 20 points and redshirt freshman Goran Suton chipped in a career-high 12 points as the Michigan State Spartans took down the Purdue Boilermakers 70-58 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Gary Ware led Purdue with 20 points.

Blitz Notes:

The status of Ohio State’s backup center Matt Terwilliger is up in the air for the Big Ten tournament. On Wednesday, Terwilliger had an appendectomy, the surgery to remove his appendix and was hospitalized.

Recovery time of the procedure can be as little as three days up to six weeks, depending on how the surgery is done and the size of the incision.

It will be interesting to see who head coach Thad Matta will use in the rotation without Terwilliger in the mix. He averages about 10 minutes per game. One option is to go without a post player, or to use freshman Brayden Bell, who has played in just seven games this year.

Bell, a 6-8 center from Salt Lake City, Utah, averages 1.4 points per game.

One other disturbing report comes from some guy named Bob Kravitz, a sports columnist for the Indianapolis Star.

In his column that appeared in Thursday morning’s paper, Kravitz goes on and on about how Matta is the best choice for Indiana, which can be read by clicking here.

Sorry Bob, Matta is not going to leave now. Especially with the rumors that the worst-case scenario of the sanctions being placed on Ohio State from the NCAA are that all records during the four years Boban Savovic played for OSU will be stricken from the books. That means that the 1999 Final Four banner at the VCA will have to come down. That’s it.

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