Right: David Lighty shoots a deep three from the right baseline against Jacksonville.
(AP Photo)

In Ohio State’s first six wins, the Buckeyes dominated the opposition by using their stifling 3-2 match-up zone defense with man principles. On Wednesday night it was an offensive explosion, especially from junior David Lighty, that sparked the Buckeyes to an 81-68 win over the Dolphins.

Lighty, who entered last night’s game averaging just 7.8 points per game, scored a career-tying 21 while three others notched double-digit point totals for the Buckeyes.

It was a game that at times looked like Ohio State was going to run away from Jacksonville, only to find those pesky Dolphins making several runs to get back into the game.

After Lighty’s trey gave Ohio State their first lead of the game at 6-4 with 16:33 left in the first half, the Buckeyes never trailed, nor was the contest ever tied the rest of the way, but Jacksonville sure did make things interesting on several occasions.

The Buckeyes jumped out to an 18-6 lead after Jon Diebler’s triple from the baseline with 12:35 left in the first half and it appeared that the rout was on.

Jacksonville, though, had other ideas. They didn’t seem intimidated playing in front of the sparse crowd at Value City Arena.

The Dolphins used a 14-4 scoring run capped off on a bad pass from Diebler that was stolen at midcourt by Jacksonville’s Ben Smith that led to an uncontested layup that made the score 22-20 in favor of the Buckeyes with 8:29 left in the first half.

On Ohio State’s next trip down the floor, Diebler misfired on a triple from the left wing and Byron James Mullens was whistled for an over-the-back foul going for the rebound.

On their next possession, Jacksonville had a chance to tie the game or take the lead and the ball found the hands of Aric Brooks on the right block, who was hacked hard by Dallas Lauderdale. Following the TV timeout at the eight-minute mark, Brooks converted just one of his two free throw attempts, and that’s the closest the Dolphins could get the remainder of the game.

Ohio State eventually increased their margin to double digits over the next five minutes after a deep three from freshman William Buford from the right wing with 2:54 left until intermission.

The Buckeyes led 45-34 at halftime.

Less than four minutes into the second half, Ohio State took their biggest lead of the game after a three-ball from the left wing by Jeremie Simmons put the Buckeyes ahead 56-37.

Yet the Dolphins wouldn’t go away quietly.

Evan Jefferson nailed a deep three from the right baseline that trimmed Ohio State’s led to single digits at 67-58 with 8:40 left. Two trips down the floor later after Ohio State failed to score on missed free throws and a layup, Jefferson connected again from nearly the same spot in transition following a Buckeye turnover to make it a two-possession game with 7:16 remaining.

After an eight-foot floater in the lane while avoiding an offensive foul by Lighty put the Buckeyes ahead by eight, the Dolphins’ Brian Gilbert knocked down a high-arching three over Lauderdale from the left baseline that trimmed OSU’s lead down to 69-64 with 5:01 to go.

But that’s about when it appeared that Jacksonville ran out of gas.

Diebler connected on a three-pointer and the Buckeyes made five out of their next six free throw attempts to put the game away.

Along with Lighty, Turner added 17, Diebler chipped in 14, and Jeremie Simmons contributed 10 points for the Buckeyes. Turner also added a team-high eight rebounds.

Ohio State shot a blistering 64.3 percent (27-of-42) from the field, 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from beyond the arc.

But defensively, the third-best team in the nation in that department going into the game allowed Jacksonville to shoot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field, and were 9-of-15 (41.2%) from three-point range.

“We let them shoot 50 percent tonight and that’s the first time this season we’ve allowed that,” Lighty said after the game. “We need to go back to the drawing board and fix ourselves defensively so that doesn’t happen again.”

Up next, Ohio State hosts Iona, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Junior point guard Ben Smith (3, center) is the Dolphins leading scorer. (AP Photo)

With final exams last week, Thad Matta’s basketball Buckeyes played just one game, holding off the Butler Bulldogs 54-51 at Value City Arena on Saturday.

Butler, a perennial Horizon League contender and NCAA tournament participant, was another quality win for Ohio State, their third out of the seven victories this season.

With that win, the Buckeyes climbed from No. 21 in both polls to No. 17 in the Associated Press and are one slot higher in USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll at No. 16, which were released on Monday.

Surprisingly, Ohio State is the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the coaches poll, with Purdue checking in at No. 18 and Michigan State at No 22.

In the AP poll, Purdue is the highest-ranked conference member at No. 13, with Michigan State two slots behind the Buckeyes.

This Wednesday night, Ohio State will host the Jacksonville Dolphins, members of the Atlantic Sun Conference, who enter tomorrow’s contest with a record of 2-5 overall.

The Dolphins lost their first five games of the season against stiff competition, dropping decisions to Florida State (59-57), Georgetown (71-62), American (75-67), Baylor (76-68), and Georgia Tech (79-76).

In the past week, Jacksonville has righted the ship by defeating conference foes Belmont (65-64), who was picked to win the A-Sun by the coaches and media while the Dolphins were chosen second, and took down Lipscomb (83-67), last Saturday.

Clearly, the tough non-conference schedule has benefited Jacksonville to get them ready for league play.

The Dolphins are led by diminutive point guard Ben Smith, a 5-foot-10 junior, who is averaging 18.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 35.0 minutes per game. He’s also his team’s best deep threat, knocking down 41.0 percent (16-of-39) of his shots from beyond the arc.

Jacksonville’s win over Lipscomb marked the sixth-straight game that Smith has scored in double figures, pouring in 18 points. He has led the Dolphins in scoring five out of the last six games, averaging 20.0 points per game during that stretch.

Marcus Allen, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound senior forward, is the only other Dolphin that averages in double figures (10.8 ppg), and is the JU’s best rebounder (6.0 rpg).

As a team, the Dolphins are shooting 42.0 percent (171-of-407) from the field, but have only connected on 29.0 percent (38-of-131) of their shots from downtown. Another problem stat for Jacksonville is that they are averaging more turnovers per game (16.4) than assists (12.4) by a wide margin (0.7).

For comparison sake, Ohio State’s assists-to-turnover ratio is 0.9, as the Buckeyes average 11.3 assists to 12.7 turnovers per game. Numbers that need to improve.

Jacksonville head coach Cliff Warren will go 11 deep, rotating six guys off the bench to stay fresh as the Dolphins prefer a more up-tempo game. The only problem is Ohio State’s three-quarters court diamond press which falls back into a stifling 3-2 match-up zone defense. JU’s turnover margin and lack of of a shooting touch from beyond the arc might turn this game into a rout.

No. 17/16 Ohio State (6-0) vs. Jacksonville (2-5)

Date: Wednesday, December 17
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena – capacity 19,049
TV: ESPNU with Jim Barbar and Mike Kelly.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 1-0 record against Jacksonville.
Last Game: Ohio State won 85-74 in Jacksonville back in December of 1986.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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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.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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