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.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball //