Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Roll to Third Straight Win
74-49 over Delaware
By John Porentas
Senior Guard Tony Stockman scored 26 points to lead
the Buckeyes to an easy 74-49 win over Delaware. The Buckeyes' 25
point win is their third in three starts this season. It is the first
time since the 1999-00 season that the Buckeyes have won three straight
by more that 20 points.
Stockman paced the Buckeyes with devastating shooting,
connecting on 10-of-13 attempts from the field including six-of-nine
from three point range.
"He had a huge ball game," said Delaware Head
Coach Dave Henderson of Stockman's shooting performance.
"The mistake that we made early was that we gave
him two open looks early. You can't give an excellent shooter open
looks because he's going to knock it down. He got those first two
and it makes a lot of difference (in your shooting confidence) when
you've seen the ball go in," Henderson said.
"Tony had some great looks and knocked them down,"
said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
"I was happy for Tony, because I think he was shooting
25% coming in," said Matta.
"He's worked very hard the last few days on his
shot. We need Tony to play well for us to have a chance to win."
The Buckeyes have gotten off to a fast start in all
three of their game. Against Delaware, OSU bolted out to 16-6 lead
in just over six minutes of play. The Buckeyes were aided by seven
Blue Hen turnovers in that stretch. Delaware went on to commit a staggering
19 turnovers in the first half. OSU outscored the Blue Hens 25-2 on
points off turnovers in the first half.
"Give credit to Ohio State for the way they played.
I thought their defense knocked our kids back a little bit,"
said Henderson.
"In the first half the ball game was wrapped up
in our 19 turnovers and their 25 points off turnovers. That's it in
a nutshell. You can't turn the ball over 25 times against anybody
and win the ball game."
While Henderson credited OSU's defense, his team also
was its own worst enemy.
"Some of them (turnovers) we just threw the ball
away. It wasn't like there was defensive pressure that really forced
them. We just made senseless turnovers and Ohio State capitalized
on every one of them," said Henderson
For the third straight game, the Buckeyes shot over
50% (50.9%) while hold the opposition below 40% (36.4%).
"We came out tonight and did a good job with our
activity on defense," said Matta.
"We were able to get some turnovers which helped
our offense. We got some easy buckets going. I thought we did a decent
job sustaining," Matta said.
OSU's big win came despite the absence of leading scorer
Terence Dials for most of the game due to fouls. Dials logged just
19 minutes in the game was scored on field goal for two points.
J. J. Sullinger was the only other Buckeye in double-digits
in scoring with 12 points.
The Buckeyes will next play in Kansas City in the final
round of the guardian classic. OSU's semifinal opponent will be Houston.
"We earned the right to go to Kansas City,"
said OSU forward J. J. Sullinger.
"We're looking forward to the opportunity to change
things from last year where we didn't play well in the (Maui) tournament.
We didn't do the things we needed to do so this year, we've got a
chance to prove our doubters wrong. We're looking forward to that
opportunity.
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