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Monday, Dec. 13 8:05pm ET
Buckeyes win battle inside | |||||
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BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- It didn't take Coastal Carolina long to realize it couldn't compete inside with Ohio State.
But the Chanticleers more than competed on the perimeter. Hitting an arena-record 14 3-pointers, Coastal Carolina kept the heat on the Buckeyes throughout before Ohio State (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 Associated Press) escaped with an 83-75 victory. "We talked to our guys about the problem you have when a team comes in with a game plan to put up a lot of 3s," Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. "We talked about the possibility of them taking 30 3s. When a team like that gets it going, it puts you behind the eight-ball." Brian Brown scored 15 of his career-high 18 points in the second half as Ohio State won by dominating close to the basket. The Buckeyes held a 44-25 advantage on the boards. Because of an off shooting night from the perimeter, the Buckeyes continually pounded the ball inside to 6-foot-11 Ken Johnson and 6-7 George Reese, forcing Coastal Carolina -- whose tallest starter was 6-6 -- to foul. The Buckeyes hit 29 of 37 free throws to the Chanticleers' nine out of 10. Brown, who shot 52 percent from the foul line last season as a freshman, hit all 10 of his free throws in the second half. "I concentrated tonight," he said. "After I hit the first couple, I gained a lot of confidence." Scoonie Penn led the Buckeyes (4-1) with 21 points, and Michael Redd had 16. The guard tandem combined to hit 13 of 35 shots from the field. Reese added 13 points. Matt Gladieux, an Ohio native, scored 27 points for Coastal Carolina (1-6). Todd Shannon added 18 points, and Steve Miles had 14. Ohio State has yet to play a team with a winning record and the opponents have a combined 10-21 record. The Buckeyes are at No. 8 Kansas on Thursday night. Penn said Ohio State wasn't looking past the Chanticleers. "I don't think this had anything to do with Kansas," Penn said. "We didn't talk at all about Kansas." Coastal Carolina lost its fourth in a row. Ohio State, which had won its last three games against Vermont, Duquesne and Florida A&M by an average of 36 points, did not have an easy time. Coastal Carolina hit seven of 13 3-pointers to take a 36-35 lead at halftime, with Shannon hitting all three of his shots behind the arc. "One of our main keys was to defend against the 3," Reese said. "But any time a team comes out and shoot a lot of them, it's going to keep them in the game." Gladieux's 3-pointer with 9:50 left tied it at 51, but Ohio State took the lead for good on a pair of Penn free throws, two more by Brown and an outside jumper by Penn. The Chanticleers pulled within one at 57-56 on Gladieux's two foul shots with 6:59 left. But Ohio State ran off the next six points -- including a Brown 3-pointer and two foul shots -- to push the lead to 63-56. "I just tried to shoot the open shot," Brown said. "If I'm open, I'm going to take it." The Chants never got closer than four points. The crowd of 16,344 observed a moment of silence before the game in memory of the mother of Coastal Carolina coach Pete Strickland. Rita Strickland died Saturday in Boston and the Chanticleer coach was with his family.
Coastal Carolina assistant Baker Neal said, "We executed our
game plan. We had good shot selection. We knew we could not get in
a racehorse style game with Ohio State. And we never did."
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AUDIO/VIDEO Kenny Johnson blocks the Chanticleers offensive drive. avi: 456 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Scoonie Penn puts up a jumper for the Buckeyes. avi: 629 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 |