No 17 Ohio State Gets Past Jacksonville 81-68

No 17 Ohio State Gets Past Jacksonville 81-68
David Lighty Jacksonville 2008

No 17 Ohio State Gets Past Jacksonville 81-68

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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