The Butler didn’t do it
Right: David Lighty drives to the dish against Butler’s Gordon Hayward. (AP Photo)
After posting two wins against ranked teams away from the sterile confines of Value City Arena last week, Thad Matta’s basketball squad return home to face a much tougher opponent.
No, I wasn’t referring to the Butler Bulldogs, though they gave Ohio State all they could handle on Saturday.
The tough opponent was was referring to goes by the name of Final Exams, as the last week of the Fall Quarter can be quite hectic for the student-athlete, cramming in hours of study time as well as practice.
After jumping out to a rather large lead in the first half, the Buckeyes appeared to run of a gas towards the end. Maybe final exams took a toll on the young Buckeyes.
It was a game where Ohio State had to grind it out in the end to win, and were fortunate enough to do so.
Butler’s freshman swingman Gordon Heyward had made seven of his 10 three-point field goal attempts during the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds of the game against Ohio State, but the one that would of sent it into overtime from the left wing clanged off the back of the iron as the horn sounded.
With that, all 13,976 fans at the VCA let out a collective sigh of relief while celebrating OSU’s seventh win in as many tries.
Once again, sophomore Evan Turner led the Buckeyes with 14 points, though he was just 4-of-10 from the floor while committing three turnovers and four personal fouls.
The only other Buckeyes to notch double-digits in the scoring column was David Lighty with 10 points, and shared the team lead in rebounds with Dallas Lauderdale, pulling down eight boards.
Lighty, though, was just 1-of-5 from the charity stripe, including a pair with under two minutes left that would of doubled up Ohio State’s lead. As a team, the Buckeyes shot a mere 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the foul line for the game.
It appeared that Ohio State would have an easy time against Butler after a block by Lauderdale and a defensive rebound by Turner on one end resulted in a layup by Lighty that gave Ohio State a 13-5 advantage with a little more than six minutes into the game.
And maybe that’s what the players felt as well.
Nearly two minutes into the contest after three-pointer by Jeremie Simmons made the score 6-5, Ohio State never trailed, even though a Butler tied the game twice in the first half and once in the second stanza.
Hayward tied the game at 17-all with 6:34 remaining until the intermission break and again on Butler’s next possession, but the Buckeyes went on a 10-4 run to close out the first half and headed into the locker room with a 29-23 advantage after a bucket by Byron James Mullens with a little more than a second left the clock.
With 15:40 left to play in the game, Lauderdale dropped in a pair of free throws giving Ohio State its’ biggest lead of the game at 43-30.
Again, it appeared that the Buckeyes were in control and would have an easy time the rest of the way.
But Butler slowly and methodically chipped away at the 13-point deficit, eventually tying the game at 51-all on Hayward’s seventh triple of the game with 3:38 left.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs failed to score another point the rest of the way, going 0-for-6 from the field and misfiring on all five three-point attempts in the final three minutes.
Ohio State reclaimed the lead for good on Turner’s leaning jumper in the lane with 3:07 remaining in the game that put the Buckeyes up 53-51.
For the game, Ohio State shot 40.5 percent (17-of-42) from the field, but went just 6-of-20 in the second half, and failed to connect from the floor during a stretch of over nine minutes. After Lighty scored in the paint with 12:30 left, the only other points the Buckeyes scored when not standing still from 15 feet away was Turner’s game-winner.
The Buckeyes were also 4-of-14 from three-point range and forced 19 Butler turnovers while committing 15.
Though Hayward was 7-of-11 from beyond the arc, the rest of the Butler team made just one attempt in 11 tries from three-point land. Overall, the Bulldogs shot 31.9 percent (15-of-47) from the field and 36.4 percent (8-of-22) in threes.
Up next, Ohio State will host the Miami Jacksonville Dolphins, Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on ESPNU.
