#7 Ohio State 52, Indiana 51 (Final)

[coastalbuck]

Great game by Dials and JJ. Sylvester was all in too. But the key is Butler, we don't win that game without him, both defensively and mostly offensively. Not only does he control everything but he can score too. The neatest thing is I think he could go for 25 or so every game, but, he stays in his role, distributes, and lights it up every once and a while to keep the defense honest. What a heady soph. he is.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

3/12/06

Big Ten Tournament / Ohio State 52, Indiana 51

Buckeyes rock and roll into title game

Sullinger leads way while Hoosiers fail in final seconds

By Michael Marot

INDIANAPOLIS - Associated Press
J.J. Sullinger reveled in his temporary rock-star image Saturday -- even if the cotton over his left eye looked out of place.
Sullinger scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and high-stepped his way off the court playing air guitar for the Ohio State fans. The Buckeyes can only hope the celebration didn't come a day early.
Matt Sylvester scored on a layup with 37.4 seconds left, Indiana missed two chances to win it and Sullinger grabbed the final rebound to help Ohio State hang on for a 52-51 victory over Indiana in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.
``It came down to the last play of the game and you can't really say that's how you want it to go down,'' Sullinger said. ``But to win this game was huge for us and it makes us feel good about ourselves.''
Good enough for a dance apparently.
After Marco Killingsworth missed a 5-foot hook shot, and Roderick Wilmont missed a 7-foot jumper off the front of the rim, Sullinger grabbed the rebound, swung his arms around and kicked his leg up as he walked off the court.
It showed how much this game meant to Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (25-4) won their seventh in a row and reached their first tournament title game since 2003. They now have a chance to join Illinois and Michigan State as two-time winners when they face No. 20 Iowa, a 53-48 winner over the Spartans, on Sunday.
They also solidified their seeding position for the NCAA tournament, one day after receiving three years of probation for NCAA violations.
Plus, they avenged an 81-79 loss in Bloomington in January by handing the Hoosiers (18-11) their first loss in six game.
And, as usual, this one came with the same intense, physical style that has characterized the rivalry in recent seasons.
From the early moments, Big Ten player of the Year Terence Dials and Indiana forward Marco Killingsworth traded jabs, elbows and barbs. During the first timeout, official Mike Sanzere walked over to Dials and told him to tone down the talking.
The battle of the big bodies was a virtual draw. Dials finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three blocks, while Killingsworth had 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Their teammates, however, got the message.
Early in the second half, Sullinger was grazed across the left eye, a cut that forced him to come out while trainers bandaged it up.
With 3:06 left, Indiana swingman Robert Vaden crashed to the floor with a left ankle injury. Two teammates helped him off the court, but coach Mike Davis said he would be ready to play next week in what the Hoosiers hope will be an NCAA Tournament game.

 

[BB73]

Obviously I am not going to read through all 18 pages, but I just want to say another gutsy performance by our guys that will go along way in teh tourney.

Why not? I just read all 19.

I really wanted to see a replay of Sylvester getting pulled back from the tied-up loose ball by the ref, when he ended up flat on his back. I couldn't believe that they didn't show it, especially since he's had serious back problems this year.

I know the ref was just separating guys from a pile in order to prevent a possible tussle, but it was strange that Syl went down flat on his back.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/12/06

OHIO STATE 52 | INDIANA 51

Bloodied, but still alive

Clutch plays help OSU survive physical game

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH Jamar Butler, right, tries to beat Indiana’s Errek Suhr to a loose ball. Butler scored six points.

NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH Ohio State’s J.J. Sullinger holds the ball and Je’Kel Foster heads for his teamates as the Buckeyes begin celebrating their victory.


INDIANAPOLIS — Far up in a corner of Conseco Fieldhouse was what appeared to be a sign stretched across four Indiana fans. It was about 2 feet high and had an IU logo at each end. Between the logos was this message:

Winner takes Matta.

Guess that makes two losses for the Hoosiers this weekend.

Thad Matta, the man who could be king of about any college basketball program he desires right now, looks like Ohio State’s for the forseeable future after the resolution of the NCAA’s case against the university Friday. The foundation of that future added another block yesterday, at the expense of a program whose fans covet him.

The Buckeyes shot poorly from the field yet again but overcame it yet again. They took a one-point lead with 37.4 seconds left on a set play out of a timeout that freed Matt Sylvester for a layup. Then they survived two missed shots by Indiana in the final seven seconds and beat the Hoosiers 52-51 in a Big Ten tournament semifinal.

Ohio State (25-4), the regular-season champion and top seed in the tournament, will play secondseeded Iowa (24-8) for the title at 3:30 p.m. today. The Hawkeyes beat Michigan State 53-48 yesterday.

"That was a tremendously hard-fought game by both teams. It’s honestly a shame that anybody had to lose," Matta said after the Buckeyes won despite squandering a sevenpoint lead in less than two minutes late in the game.

"As you get into these types of (postseason) tournaments, it’s all about surviving, and that’s what we got done today."

With the Buckeyes frigid again from outside the three-point arc — they made 5 of 27 attempts — they gained the upper hand inside, where a bloodied J.J. Sullinger did most of his damage in totaling 19 points and 13 rebounds. He also held Indiana’s Robert Vaden to six points as part of a defensive effort that limited the fifth-seeded Hoosiers (18-11) to 33 percent shooting from the field and five three-point baskets.

"He brings tremendous energy," Matta said, "and today he was turned up full blast."

Dials added 13 points in a brutal struggle deep in the paint against Indiana’s 270-pound Marco Killingsworth, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds but missed 13 of 18 shots, including one with seven seconds left.

"They tried to give him the ball every possession it seemed like," Dials said.

"He’s their best player, and you definitely want your best player shooting the last shot. I tried to push him off the block. He still got a good look.
Luckily, it didn’t drop."

Roderick Wilmont, who led Indiana with 16 points, snagged the rebound, however, and put up a 12-foot floater in the lane. It missed, too, and Sullinger, playing with a split left eyelid that required stitches after the game, corraled his last and biggest rebound, threw the ball high in the air and danced off the court to the sounds of the OSU fight song.

"He got a good look. It just didn’t go down," Sullinger said. "Fortunately for us and unfortunately for them."

The Buckeyes, who trailed 28-25 early in the second half, built an eight-point lead as Sullinger scored their first 13 points of the second half. They still led 47-40 with less than six minutes remaining.

But Indiana exploited a matchup between point guard Earl Calloway and OSU power forward Matt Sylvester to tie the score at 47 with 3:47 remaining, and the Hoosiers took a 51-50 lead with 1:50 left when Wilmont drove past Ron Lewis on the baseline.

"I thought our guys fought hard and showed a lot of courage by just sticking with it, especially when we were down by seven points," said Indiana coach Mike Davis, who coached his last Big Ten game. He announced his resignation last month.

But Lewis and Sylvester had the last word.

Lewis ran down Je’Kel Foster’s missed shot and Ohio State called time out with 48.9 seconds left. Out of the break, the ball went to Dials in the high post, Sylvester set a screen for Jamar Butler on the baseline and both Sylvester’s and Butler’s man followed Butler on the curl. Sylvester cut to the basket and Dials found him with the pass.

"I told him, ‘I’ve been giving you assists for five years,’ " Sylvester said. "It’s about time he gave me one."

[email protected]

Sunday, March 12, 2006

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/12/06

COMMENTARY

Dials, Killingsworth duke it out like Ali, Frazier

Sunday, March 12, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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INDIANAPOLIS — Terence Dials and Marco Killingsworth don’t hate each other. At least that what’s they said when they were asked.

Now, if the verb had been different. "Despise," maybe, or "loathe" . . .

"Naw, I don’t even know the kid," Dials said, with an awshucks smile. "He’s just not in a Buckeye uniform, basically."

Killingsworth’s voice was even softer and more conciliatory than Dials’ was.

"Naw, he cool, he cool," the Indiana center said. "We’re just two competitors competing, that’s all that was. I really didn’t take anything personally. I know he didn’t take it personally. We were just going at it."

Just going at it? You could take this act on the road and sell out arenas all over the country. Just make sure the spectators don’t pay too much attention to the game — and these Ohio State-Indiana games are usually terrific — and instead keep their eyes focused on about a 10-foot square under the baskets.

When the Big Ten officials are letting Killingsworth and Dials "play" — a curious choice of words for legalized mayhem — like they did in Ohio State’s 52-51 win yesterday in a Big Ten tournament semifinal, this is as good a show as you will find anywhere in sports.

"To me, that’s like Ali-Frazier down there," Ohio State senior forward Matt Sylvester said. "I mean, two guys just throwing blows back and forth at each other, both extremely good players on extremely good teams.

"What a battle it was. To watch those guys, it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life."

Sylvester wins the day, as usual, for his colorful descriptions of what just happened, but he may have missed this one just a tad. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were boxers. This was more of a wrestling match, more like Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy.

There were no half nelsons, pile drivers or headlocks, but it wouldn’t be taking too much literary license to say there were more than 100 body slams. These guys were slamming those big bodies against each other all game with the predictable result. It got pretty chippy in the trenches, and the chippiness eventually spread all over the court.

"We’re really mirror images of each other," Indiana senior guard Marshall Strickland said. "Dials is physical, Marco is physical. . . . That’s our game."

This is good stuff. You sometimes wonder if there isn’t more to all this than the rest of us are privy to, that these guys might not slip out into an alley somewhere and settle a private score against each other in the offseason.
This much we know: On Friday, Killingsworth was asked what he thought about Dials winning the Big Ten player of the year award, and the Hoosier senior quickly said, "No comment."

Dials admitted he had heard about it.

"But I don’t really get caught up in that stuff," he said. "The only motivation I had was winning this conference tournament."

Dials is too nice a guy to say much more than that, although the game had some definite inyour-face moments. There was a lot of chatter between them before the officials told them to zip it, and when Dials blocked one of Killingsworth’s shots, you almost expected him to follow it with a body scissors, a broncobuster or flying lariat.

One time Dials smiled so hard he could have lost some teeth.

"I definitely enjoy challenges and I definitely enjoy a guy who people say is better than me," Dials said.

"There’s been a lot of talk all season long that he’s the best post player in the Big Ten and things like that, and well, I enjoy that kind of challenge."

Dials smiled, and it was easy to read. Killingsworth made only 5 of 18 shots, and a couple of those came when Dials was resting and the smaller Sylvester was trying to guard him. Killingsworth missed an easy one at the end that could have won it.

This was even better than the old eye gouge.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

[email protected]