Dispatch
NO. 4 OHIO STATE 82 SAN FRANCISCO 60
Scoring runs leave Dons dumbfounded
Freshmen Cook, Conley Jr. provide spark
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
MIKE MUNDEN DISPATCH Ron Lewis is fouled while putting up a shot against San Francisco?s Alan Wiggins Jr. Lewis scored 15 points.
MIKE MUNDEN DISPATCH Mike Conley Jr. gets past San Francisco?s Christian Hernandez for a shot attempt. Conley scored 12 points.
Nothing sad about this one.
Nearly three years to the day after former coach Jim O?Brien put pen to paper late in a disgusting loss at San Francisco ? printing "This is sad" on it, showing it to officials and getting ejected ? the Ohio State men?s basketball team made the Dons sorry they didn?t buy themselves out of the return game.
Freshmen Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook sparked runs in each half last night to lead the Buckeyes to an 82-60 victory in Value City Arena. Cook scored 20 points off the bench and Conley and guard Jamar Butler combined for 18 points, 16 assists and only two turnovers as Ohio State (5-0) turned a difficult start into a runaway win.
"We?re not where we want to be yet," Butler said, "but if we keep working hard in practice, keep playing within the system, I think we?ll be fine."
Ron Lewis had 15 points for Ohio State. San Francisco (2-2), which made the long trip east for only this game, was led by guard Armondo Surratt with 15 points.
Ohio State missed 11 of its first 14 shots and led by only three points with 6 1 /2 minutes left in the first half before giving itself a cushion with a 14-2 run in less than three minutes. The Buckeyes forced three turnovers and two missed shots by the Dons, and Conley scored five points and assisted on seven.
"The defense started generating some more opportunities for us and got us maybe a couple more easy baskets, which I think relaxed us a little bit," coach Thad Matta said.
"We felt like we wanted to move the ball and get San Francisco making decisions defensively. We had that at times tonight. Other times ? we weren?t running very good offense. We?ve got to continue to embrace our system and keep striving to get better."
Conley began the run with a reverse layup off a feed from Butler. Conley then rebounded a Dons miss, pushed the ball upcourt and sent a one-handed, crosscourt bounce pass from right of the key to Butler on the left wing. Butler made the three-point shot.
Conley helped again on the second of two Daequan Cook baskets, which bracketed a three-point play by Conley.
Conley?s third assist came after he rebounded again, ran the ball to the other end and dished a wraparound pass to Matt Terwilliger, whose layup finished the run and gave the Buckeyes a 38-23 lead with 3:41 remaining. They led 45-29 at halftime.
Conley finished the half with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds.
"We came out and played a lot harder and a lot tougher defensively" in the final seven minutes of the first half, Conley said. "That sparked our run and we got a lot of open shots from there. We made some big plays."
San Francisco got as close as 49-38 in the first four minutes of the second half before eight straight points by Cook stuck a fork in any comeback hopes crossing the Dons? minds. In less than a minute, Cook made two three-pointers around a leaping, one-handed catchand-slam in transition.
Ohio State built its lead to as much as 30 points before the Dons cut into it in the final 10 minutes.
"They play well together," San Francisco coach Jessie Evans said of the Buckeyes. "They seem to have a lot of fun together. They seem to enjoy their roles and know their roles ? that compensates for their lack of experience.
"They?re going to be good. And they?ve got another guy to add. He may mess up their chemistry, though."
It was one of the few times Evans smiled all night.
bbaptist@dispatch.com
