Amir Williams and Shannon Scott were McDonald’s All-Americans in high school.
Just in time, they’re stepping into the spotlight for the eighth-ranked Buckeyes.
Williams scored a career-high 16 points and Scott added 13 and matched a personal best with nine rebounds to lead Ohio State to a 63-52 victory over American University on Wednesday night.
“I’ve been working my tail off during the offseason and in practices as well just to have to some go-to moves in the post,” said Williams, a 6-foot-10 junior who is averaging only 3 points and 3 rebounds a game for his first two seasons. “It’s looking like it’s finally starting to come alive. I’m starting to feel a lot more confident. Once I see that ball going in the basket, I want to get the ball again to try to make another basket. It’s a confidence thing. I hope it skyrockets.”
Scott has spent his first two years as a defensive option if Aaron Craft got into foul trouble. He also was averaging 3 points a game but now is hitting for 12 points a game.
“We came in all summer and worked on our game,” Scott said, speaking of himself and Williams. “We’ve got a better attitude this year as well. We know we have to be guys on this team that make plays happen.”
The Buckeyes (4-0) struggled all night to make shots, finishing 20 of 56 from the field for 36 percent. They were rescued by Williams’ strong play inside – he hit 6 of 9 shots from the field, 4 of 5 free throws and added seven rebounds.
“We had 13 shots we missed at halftime that were right in the paint,” coach Thad Matta said. “Thank goodness Amir got us off to a pretty good start and was making some shots.”
Scott added four assists and three steals. Craft had nine points and seven steals and freshman Marc Loving added nine points off the bench.
“Ohio State’s a good team. You’ve got to do a lot of things right to beat a team like that,” said first-year American U. coach Mike Brennan. “We had 27 turnovers and gave up 17 offensive rebounds, and that had a lot to do with the loss tonight. But they’re good. They’re loaded. They’ve got a lot of weapons.”
Jesse Reed scored 15 points, Tony Wroblicky had 14 and Darius Gardner 10 for the Eagles (1-2), who never led in the last 23 minutes but never really went away.
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