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Men's Basketball
Turner, Lighty Slam the Door on Penn State’s Comeback
By Brandon CastelSTATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Wednesday’s game between Ohio State and Penn State featured a matchup of the first-place Buckeyes against the last-place Nittany Lions, but it was a little hard to tell which team was which in the early going.
David Lighty scored 18 points and was two of three from three point range.
Photo by Jim DavidsonWith the rims squeezing the air out of a half-filled Bryce Jordan Arena, both teams shot less than 43 percent from the floor and combined to go just 2-of-16 from behind the arc in the first half.
The ninth-ranked Buckeyes (22-7, 12-4 Big Ten) opened the second half on a 19-6 run to take a 49-32 lead but the Nittany Lions (10-17, 2-13) refused to go away quietly. They cut the score to just two points in the final five minutes before Evan Turner and David Lighty slammed the door shut on a 75-67 win.
“We just couldn’t guard 21 off the dribble and I thought Lighty had a great game,” Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis said after the two Buckeyes combined to score 33 of Ohio State’s 45 second-half points.
Playing the role of setup man, Lighty scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half as he attacked the basket with ferocity, but it was Turner who once again accepted the role of closer for Thad Matta and the Buckeyes.
“He’s made some big plays for us down the stretch,” Ohio State’s sixth-year Head Coach said.
“He made some huge plays and baskets for us tonight.”
After scoring just five points in the first half, Turner exploded for 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including 10 straight from 6:26 left until the two-minute mark.
“He backed us in, he drove by us and he shot over us,” DeChellis said of the 6-foot-7 point guard.
“He’s a special player.”
He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists to go with two blocks and three steals, and yet it was his turnover at the 5:23 mark that led to David Jackson’s three-point play at the other end which cut OSU’s lead to 59-57 with 5:15 to play in the game.
“They’re a good team, we already knew that,” said Lighty, who was 6-of-9 from the floor with a pair of rim-rattling dunks.
“And they’re playing at home; they’ve won two games in a row so they’re feeling good. It was a tough game. We knew that coming in. It’s kind of always a tough game when we come here.”
It’s a lesson Lighty learned three years ago when he and his fellow “Thad Five” members Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook coughed up a 21-point halftime in this building only to survive for a 64-62 victory.
“Freshman year we almost lost. They had a three-point shot at the end of the game to win it and it rattled out,” Lighty said of Mike Walker’s desperation three that would have upset the No. 2 team in the country.
“It just shows you it’s hard to play on the road in the Big Ten, no matter where you’re at.”
Wednesday the current Buckeyes held a 17-point lead with 13:50 to play in the game before Penn State connected on three straight shots from behind the arc to make it an eight-point game with 11:51 to play.
Lighty split a pair at the line and then Talor Battle drove to the basket for a three-point play that made it 50-44.
“They have so many things for him, it’s kind of like me. They have so many screens coming off the ball, so you always have to be prepared for the next step,” Turner said of his Team USA teammate who led the Nittany Lions with 22 points.
“If he doesn’t have the ball, you’re going through seven or eight different types of screens to get to him. Sometimes you expect your help side to be there, but they’re running action off the ball.”
The Buckeyes extended their lead back to 11 at the 9:14 mark on a nifty spinning jumper by Turner, who seemed to hit one big shot after another down the stretch.
“He hit a couple bit shots when things were shaky and they needed a basket,” DeChellis said.
The Nittany Lions used a 13-4 run to cut the score to two points at 59-57 with 5:15 to play, but Turner went on an 8-2 run by himself over the next three minutes to make it a 67-59 ballgame with two minutes to play.
From there, it was simply about knocking down free throws, and the Buckeyes hit six in a row to close out the game as they shot 14-17 from the line in the second half to secure the 75-67 victory in their final road game of the season.
The Bucks have two games remaining during the regular season, both at Value City Arena in Columbus, and both on national television. They return home Saturday to play archrival Michigan (noon ET, ESPN) before closing out the season against Illinois next Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Game Notes:
* Ohio State has now won 13 games in a row against Penn State. Their last loss to the Nittany Lions (64-47) came on Jan. 10, 2004.
* The Buckeyes out-rebounded PSU 33-30 and outscored them 36-34 in the paint. Dallas Lauderdale led all players with a career-high 10 rebounds.
* OSU forced Penn State into 10 turnovers while committing only eight of their own. They outscored the Nittany Lions 13-4 off those turnovers.
* Evan Turner finished with a game-high 25 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. He scored 20 points in the second half and went 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
* The Buckeyes had four players in double figures including Turner (25), Lighty (18), Jon Diebler (16) and William Buford (12). Buford also added six rebounds and three assists before he fouled out with 30 seconds to go in the game.
* The Buckeyes have now won 10 of their last 11 games in conference play after starting the year 1-3 in the Big Ten. They have won four straight Big Ten road games dating back to their 70-66 win over Purdue on Jan. 12.
* With the win, the Buckeyes (12-4) are currently tied with the Boilermakers (11-3) for first place in the Big Ten standings pending the outcome of Purdue's game at Minnesota. The third-ranked Boilermakers were losing 38-35 with 12 minutes to go in the second half at the time of this report.
* Jon Diebler was 2-for-10 from behind the arc. As a team, the Buckeyes shot just 4-of-17 from long range, including 1-of-7 in the first half. Penn State was 5-of-17 from three.
* Turner's 25 points against Penn State gives him 1339 for his career as a Buckeye. His game against the Lions moved him past Jim Clemons on OSU's all-time career scoring list. Clemons scored 1335 in his OSU career. Turner is now 22nd on the all-time scoring list.
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