Buckeyes earn split during NYC trip
Ohio State’s Evan Turner goes up for two against California in the 2K Sports Classic
at Madison Square Garden in New York, Friday night. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Evan Turner scored 26 points with 14 rebounds to lead the 15th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes to a 76-70 win over No. 13 California in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden in New York, Friday night.
While winning one of two contests against ranked opponents was a decent showing, the Buckeyes did not put together a complete 40-minute game during their trip to the Big Apple.
Against California, Ohio State led by as much as 24 points after William Buford’s dunk put the Buckeyes ahead 52-28 with 15:40 left in the game.
In Thursday’s game against sixth-ranked North Carolina, the Tar Heels led by as many as 19 points near the midway point of the second half before Ohio State scratched and clawed their way back to get within two at 75-73 after a three-pointer by Jon Diebler with 15 seconds left, but UNC was able to make both their free throws to put the game away.
On Friday night, the Buckeyes scored eight of the first 10 points to start the game vs. Cal and OSU was in control for most of the first 20 minutes of action. Ohio State was also able to go on a 7-0 run to close the first half and take a 38-25 lead into the locker room at the intermission break.
It looked like the Buckeyes were going to run away and hide against the Golden Beers as it appeared that the rout was on, but turnovers and poor shot selection helped California get back into the game.
During a stretch in the second half starting at the 15:40 mark following Buford’s jam, the Golden Bears outscored the Buckeyes 29-11, and after Markhuri Sanders-Frison scored on a layup with 5:09 remaining to play, Cal had cut Ohio State’s lead down to 63-57.
In that span of a little more than 10 minutes, the only points for the Buckeyes came from Evan Turner, who scored eight and Jon Diebler, who was 3-of-4 from the foul line.
Luckily, Ohio State stemmed the tide as California could not get any closer from that point on.
Three other Buckeyes scored in double figures as Diebler added 14, Buford chipped in 12, and David Lighty contributed 11 points. Making his first start of the season, Dallas Lauderdale scored eight points with four rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Jerome Randle led the Golden Bears with 26 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range.
Ohio State shot 51 percent (25-49) from the field, but were just 6-of-15 (40.0%) from beyond the arc. California was 26-of-67 (38.8%) from the floor, and shot 10-of-26 (43.5%) in threes.
On Thursday night, Ohio State missed their first nine three-point attempts, and the Buckeyes finished 1-of-10 from beyond the arc and shot just 29 percent (9-of-31) from the field as OSU trailed 38-24 at the half.
North Carolina’s Deon Thompson scored 15 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Tar Heels, whose largest lead was 19 points with 10:23 to play.
But the Buckeyes started to knock down their threes while the Tar Heels couldn’t make their free throws. Diebler’s triple with 15 seconds left got OSU within two, but Larry Drew, who missed four of his previous six charity-stripe tosses in the final minute, made two from the line with 11 seconds to go to seal the deal.
Once again, the Buckeyes were led by Evan Turner who scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, but he also had a team-high 10 turnovers. Diebler added 17 points while Lighty chipped in 11.
Up next, Ohio State hosts Lipscomb, Tuesday night. Tip-off from Value City Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
