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ABJ

Ohio State 87, Loyola of Chicago 75

Lewis able to lead young Buckeyes

Veteran Loyola gives Ohio State some trouble

Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Ron Lewis scored the first seven points of each half for No. 7 Ohio State, finishing with 27 to lead the Buckeyes to an 87-75 victory over Loyola of Chicago on Saturday night in the BCA Classic.
Ohio State (2-0) will face Kent State (2-0) in the championship game tonight. The Golden Flashes beat IUPUI 81-74.
Lewis topped his previous Ohio State best of 26 points set against Penn State last season. He scored 34 points in the 2003-04 season opener for Bowling Green.
Lewis also had 11 rebounds and three assists. He was 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers, and also made all but one of his eight free throws.
Daequan Cook, coming off a 22-point game the night before in his freshman debut, added 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Ivan Harris had 11 points.
Blake Schilb had 19 points, J.R. Blount 15, Leon Young 12 and Majak Kou 11 for the Ramblers (1-1).
Loyola of Chicago figured to provide a lot of problems for the young Buckeyes, who start two freshmen and a junior-college transfer. The Ramblers have all five starters back from a 19-11 season. They are favored to win the Horizon League, just as the Buckeyes were picked to top the Big Ten -- based mostly on the presence of the injured Greg Oden.
Oden, a dominating 7-foot freshman center, is recuperating after surgery on his right wrist. He is expected to be out until Jan. 1. Oden spent much of the game sitting on the bench, a towel draped over his head while he wore a scarlet-and-gray brace on his wrist.
In Friday's 107-69 opening-round win over VMI, the Buckeyes were almost forced to keep up with the full-court-pressing, fast-breaking Keydets.
Against Loyola, Ohio State's defense set the pace.