What looked like an early blow-out got tight with point
swings in both directions for the Buckeyes Wednesday night against a tough
Jacksonville Dolphin squad. A lot of offense by David Lighty, Evan Turner and Jon
Diebler put the Buckeyes on top at the end.
By Steve Patterson
Starters Dominate Early
The
starting five for Ohio
State come out strong and
put up a lot of points in the first 10 minutes of play against the Atlantic Sun
league’s Jacksonville Dolphins last night. Lighty led the way with 21 points on
the night, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Turner played 36 minutes along with Lighty
and had good numbers for the night with 17 points and 8 rebounds. While Diebler
was hot from behind the 3 point line making 3 of 7 and scoring a total of 14
points for the Buckeyes.
But when
the starters sat down to be replaced by freshman Anthony Crater at the point
guard position, William Bufford, and a combination of BJ Mullens and Kyle
Madsen at center, Ohio
State struggled to
maintain their lead. In fact Jacksonville
was able to pull within two points after being down 18 points early in the game.
Fouls but No Foul Shooting
The game
was plagued by a constant blowing of the referee’s whistle especially in the
final 5 minutes when both teams where in the penalty and therefore went to the
line with each new call. Jacksonville’s
Marcus Allen fouled out of the game with several minutes remaining to be
followed by teammate Lehmon Colbert a minute later. Overall the Dolphins were
called for 25 fouls while the Buckeyes were called for 18.
With all the calls there was plenty
of opportunity to score the easy foul shots but both teams struggled at the
line. Ohio State
shot 63% from the free throw line and Jacksonville
only shot 60%.
Tight Finish
Jacksonville got within 5
points with the game winding down and looked like they would make the
improbably upset run with momentum going their way at the end. But the foul
calls against Colbert and Allen which ended their nights made an upset
impossible and the Buckeyes finished strong. Colbert was the Dolphin’s leading
scorer with 14 points and 7 rebounds while Allen provided 11 points on the
night with 4 assists.
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