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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Ride Two Big Spurts to Win Over Tennessee State
By John Porentas

No 22/24 Ohio State (8-0) used an 19-2 run in the first half and a 13-0 run late in the game to pull away from Tennessee State (2-4) for a 74-65 win at Value City Arena.

The Tigers came into Value City Arena with a plan to take away OSU's outside shooting and to some extent succeeded. TSU held OSU to 31.6 shooting from three point range, well below their season average of 45.8% coming into the game. That success, however, came at a price.

The strategy left OSU center Terence Dials with one-on-one coverage in the post, and Dials took full advantage with 19 points to share team scoring honors with Je'Kel Foster.

Tennessee State came out smoking from the field in the early going and led by 10 at 26-16 with 9:11 remaining in the first half. Eighteen of their 26 points came on six three pointers as the Tigers opened the game by making six of their first seven three point attempts to establish a lead.

"On their first five or six threes they never hit the rim," said an obviously impressed Thad Matta.

"Those things were nothing but the bottom of the net. I think we were taken back a little bit, shell shocked a little bit at their ability. Defensively they got up, they pressured us. You try to get your team ready for that, but until you get into the actual game I don't think they can completely see it," Matta said of OSU's slow start.

Trailing by 10, the Buckeyes got a steal from guard Sylvester Mayes who then got the ball ahead to center Matt Terwilliger who finished the play with a dunk. The basket started an 19-2 run that saw the Tigers go cold and the Buckeyes pick up their defensive intensity.

"At the beginning they were shooting the ball extremely well," said OSU forward J. J. Sullinger.

"We just had to limit their open looks and make their looks as hard as possible. Anytime you get stops, that's our best offensive weapon. You can't really run when you take the ball out of bounds," Sullinger said.

The Buckeyes took a 40-31 lead to the locker room and appeared to be in control of the game, but Tennessee State had another run left in them. The Tigers heated up from three again early in the second half and regained the lead at 52-51 with 11:57 remaining to play.

Tennessee State led by three at 55-52, but the Buckeyes had one more run of their own left. OSU scored the next 13 points of the game, shutting out the Tigers for a period of nearly seven minutes in the process. One of the biggest plays in the run was a J. J. Sullinger block on a dunk attempt by TSU's Larry Turner. Turner appeared to have a clear slam, but Sullinger went high with Turner to pin the ball against the backboard and prevent the slam. Sullinger was called for a foul on the play, but the effort ignited the OSU crowd and sent a message that the Buckeyes were not going to go away.

"I just knew we couldn't give them an easy bucket," said Sullinger.

"He was going to jump real high and he was going to dunk it. Dunks sometimes become psychological plays. They're only two points but you don't want to give them up. I just tried to do what I could so that he didn't make it. The crowd responded because it was just a hustle play on both of our parts. He was up high, I was up high, and it was a nice play I guess," said Sullinger.

The crowd cheered Sullinger, and got all over Turner as he stepped to the line to shoot two free throws.

"They (the crowd) were a factor when Larry Turner missed his two free throws," said Tennessee State Head Coach Cy Alexander.

"They were very loud while he was at the line. I thought both of them were good and he missed both of them."

The Tigers shot the ball very well, especially from three, but OSU won the game by getting the ball down low to Dials. When the Tigers tried to adjust to Dials' play by having their post defender front Dials, OSU's guards were able to put the ball on the floor and drive the basket due to the post defender being further from the basket. OSU's Ron Lewis was particularly effective and got the line to shoot eight free throws in the game, making seven of them.

"We tried to tell Turner to go around him and make them go over the top. Turner was playing behind him and Dials was doing a good job of ducking in. We tried to get around him and create some doubt in their players on the perimeter. Then they went to the dribble drive and try to make him help and then pitch it back to him. A couple times they did. Our weak side rotations were a little slow," said Alexander.

"We started getting drives and getting fouled," said Matta.

"A couple times he vacated the post and that opened avenues up for us to get to the basket."

Tennessee State's Wayne Arnold led all scorers with 23 points. Arnold made seven of his eight three point attempts. Tennessee State shot 46.4% (13-of-28) from three in the game.

OSU point guard Jamar Butler joined Foster and Dials as a double-figure scorer with 10 points. Butler also handed out a game-high eight assists.

Ohio State outscored TSU 20-4 from the free throw line. The Buckeyes shot 80% from the charity stripe for the third consecutive game.

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