Aaron Craft scored 18 points – including eight free throws down the stretch – to help the Buckeyes hold off their neighboring rivals Ohio, 79-69.
The numbers weren’t pretty: The teams combined for 55 fouls and 72 free throws, five Bobcats fouled out and there was seldom much momentum either way because of a drumbeat of stoppages of play due to foul calls.
“You have to adjust,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “It (the new emphasis on whistling most contact) obviously gives the offense a lot of advantages, especially Ohio State, which has four guys on the perimeter who are constantly coming at you. It puts a lot of pressure on your defense in one-on-one situations.”
Amir Williams had a career-high 14 points and matched a career-best with 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes (2-0), while reserve Sam Thompson had 12 points and LaQuinton Ross added 10.
Ohio State built a 12-point halftime lead and never trailed, although the Bobcats (1-1) cut the gap to five points with 4 minutes left.
Down by double figures most of the game, the Bobcats got back into it in the closing minutes behind the play of Stevie Taylor and Nick Kellogg, both from Columbus, who both scored 21 points.
Trailing 64-53, Kellogg hit a reverse layup in traffic before Craft missed a layup at the other end. A long pass led to Taylor’s three-point play that cut it to 64-58 with just over 5 minutes remaining.
“Nick and I are roommates,” Taylor said. “We talked about just coming home and playing solid, doing whatever it is that Coach wanted us to do. We did a good job of that.”
After a free throw by Craft, Maurice Ndour hit a follow shot to cut it to 65-60. Williams then tipped in a miss by Ross. Off an Ohio miss, Craft hit two more foul shots to push the lead back to 69-60.
Still, the game wasn’t firmly in hand until Shannon Scott drove the left baseline and flipped a pass to the right corner to Smith who hit a 3 with 2 minutes remaining for a 74-64 lead.
The Bobcats never got closer than seven points again as Craft scored nine of Ohio State’s last 12 points.
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