Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Defeat St. Joseph's to Close Out Preseason with Win
By John Porentas
The Hawks of St. Joseph's (3-6) made it a game, but a seven-point outburst by Matt Sylvester when the chips were down helped the Buckeyes (11-2) to a 72-61 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center before a season-high crowd of 14,119.
"I think tonight we really beat a very good basketball team," said Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta.
OSU junior center Terence Dials recorded his third consecutive double-double and fourth in five games with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Dials tallied 17 of those points in the first half when he virtually carried the Buckeye scoring load.
"We tried some different things with him," said St. Joseph's Head Coach Phil Martelli of the Hawk's effort to put the clamps on Dials.
"In the second half we actually came out and played him one-on-one. We also played him with a second big running at him."
Dials was doing the scoring, but he had plenty of help offensively. The Buckeyes registered 11 assists for 14 total field goals in the first half and ended up with 20 assists for 26 field goals in the game. For the game, Brandon Fuss-Cheatham and Tony Stockman each had five assists. Je'Kel Foster added four more off the bench.
The Buckeyes led by 10 at the half, 36-26, but the Hawks cut the lead to just three at 54-51 with 7:59 remaining in the game.
"I knew we were going to be in for a 40-minute basketball game," said Matta.
"The second half we didn't have the defensive intensity that we needed. That allowed them to make great runs," Matta said.
Foster put the Buckeyes back up by five with a layup, then Sylvester did his thing. Sylvester scored on two jumpers and made a old fashioned three point play while the Hawks could match his skein with just one field goal. With 4:41 left to play, OSU led 63-53, then coasted home the rest of the way when they made it very tough for St. Joe's to score as the clock wound down. St. Joe's got no closer than nine in the final four minutes. The Buckeyes led by as many as 12.
"I like that fact that we were able to finally settle down and get the stops that we needed," said Matta.
"I thought that (guards) Je'Kel (Foster) and Jamar (Butler) came in and really gave us a boos defensively. Offensively, Terence was really good as well," Matta said.
Ivan Harris had 13 points and Jamar Butler added 10 for Ohio State. Chet Stachitas led St. Joseph's with 16 points. Pat Carroll added 14.
Ohio State dominated on the backboard, outrebounding the Hawks 39-30.
St. Joseph's was the darling of college basketball last season, completing the regular-season undefeated. They were a number one seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the final eight. They finished their season with an overall record of 30-2, their lone losses coming in the Atlantic-10 tournament and the NCAA tournament. This season, however, the Hawks are off to a 3-6 start, to the chagrin of Martelli.
"We have not played well. We've played to 3-6," said Martelli.
"Every guy makes a bonehead play. There were just too many flawed plays. We have individual breakdowns, and we don't have talent enough to overcome those individual breakdowns."
Matta, however, spoke well of St. Joseph's.
"I thought this was a great test for this basketball team," said Matta. "If there's a better 3-6 team in the country than them I'd like to see who they are."
The Buckeyes begin Big Ten play next Wednesday when the travel to Illinois to take on the top-ranked Illini, then host the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes next Wednesdsay.
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