On Tuesday the basketball Buckeyes traveled to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators. While the first half seemed to reveal some weaknesses, the Buckeyes came on very strong in the second half to secure the victory over a tough Florida team for their first big win of the season over a ranked opponent. The final score was 93-75, a very strong showing on the road against the #10 ranked team in the country.
Florida started off with press defense, but Jared Sullinger displayed a nice post move and jump hook to get OSU on the board early. Florida came right back, pushing the ball and applying pressure, but Diebler got free for a shot from downtown to get him started. The hot shooting continued, with Lighty banking in a nice mid-range shot, helping the Bucks get settled into their rhythm. Florida maintained their early pace, but the Buckeyes bore down on defense and forced the Gators into some tough shots.
Aaron Craft subbed in at the first break and took over the point duties. Lighty followed with a strong drive to the hoop for the and-1. Florida countered with a nice floater from Walker, but OSU immediately countered with a drive and dish from Buford to Sullinger for the dunk. The pace slowed slightly, and Florida began to get repeated second chances as the first half wore on, cutting the lead to 1 by the 12:00 mark. A Buford miss allowed Florida to come down for yet another shot off the offensive board to take the lead.
After a timeout, Lighty knocked down two free throws to pull OSU back into the lead. The game bounced back and forth as the latter portion of the first half began, feeding the ball in low and the fouls beginning to accumulate as players buckled down on defense. Lighty took a hard shot to the face on a drive, but stepped up and hit two more free throws.
Deshaun Thomas saw his first action at the 10:00 minute mark and the Buckeyes moved to a zone defense, but Florida quickly took advantage and knocked down a three from Boynton. After an OSU turnover, Boynton knocked down his second three, but Craft came back for a three of his own, showing a nice shooting touch from downtown.
Dallas re-entered the game to give Ohio State a boost on defense. The hot shooting for both teams continued, with Buford taking his turn at knocking down a three and then taking a steal coast-to-coast for an easy layup. Ohio State’s woes on the offensive boards continued, giving up another easy putback and then turning the ball over before another break in action. Coming out of the break, Florida got a backdoor layup on a breakdown in defense. The scoring went back and forth with a three by Lighty, another layup for the Gators, and then a pull-up from Craft. Florida’s big men were able to take advantage of OSU’s youth inside to some extent with Sullinger and Thomas, but the Buckeyes kept it reasonably close going into the half, pulling to within three off some strong play by Diebler, penetrating and creating opportunities.
The second half started with a Sullinger basket-and-foul, but he failed to convert on the three-point play. Florida went right back to their first half strategy, pounding it into Macklin. He picked up the foul down low, but failed to make either free throw. Ohio State pulled into the lead and it seemed that the momentum had shifted over the halftime break. Lighty and Buford started picking it up with a few strong baskets, but Florida wasn’t going anywhere, getting some solid play from their own freshman standout Patric Young.
Ohio State pulled into the lead, extending the margin to six with 10 minutes to go on a nice transition dunk from Sullinger followed by a short shot from Buford. Diebler picked up a big charge on Macklin, and the pressure increased. Boynton continued to knock down the three’s for Florida at an alarming rate, but OSU began to take more control of the game.
At 7:00 left in the game, the game was still clearly up for grabs for the team that wanted it most. Lighty took another hit off a Sullinger offensive board and putback (on a goal-tend by Florida), but he bounced right back. At 6:00, Ohio State extended the lead to 11, but fouled Parsons on a three attempt. Parsons only hit 2 of three, and OSU capitalized on a quick transition dunk for Sullinger yet again. While our more senior players got us started in the second half, our freshmen helped bring it to a close, as Sullinger and Craft really led the team down the home stretch of the last few minutes with smart, mistake-free basketball. As the game went under three minutes, Lighty, Diebler, and Buford all put a final stamp on the game with key baskets to put it out of reach.
Sullinger and Lighty led all scorers with 26 apiece, with Sullinger adding 10 boards for his second straight double-double. Buford and Lighty also hit double figures in scoring, with 16 and 14, respectively. Kenny Boynton led Florida with 21.
The Buckeyes next face UNC-Wilmington on Saturday in Columbus.
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