|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Sunday, Dec. 19 2:00pm ET
Buckeyes conquer the Colonels | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Coach Jim O'Brien says Ohio State is tired. Overmatched Eastern Kentucky grew tired of watching its shots get swatted back. Ken Johnson blocked eight shots in the Buckeyes' 72-40 victory over the Colonels on Sunday. Ohio State (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today; No. 12 Associated Press), which improved to 5-2, blocked a total of 13 shots, two under the team record and the most by a Buckeye team since 1981. "We haven't seen a shot-blocker like Ken Johnson," said Eastern Kentucky coach Scott Perry. The Colonels (4-2), who came in making 49 percent of their shots from the field, managed only 15 field goals in 62 attempts (24 percent). Eastern Kentucky, which had won four straight, went 7:42 in the first half and 13:32 of the second without a point. Most of that ineffectiveness was a reflection of Johnson's activities inside. "I really sensed it was hard for them to shoot over me and I was fortunate to take advantage of that," he said. "One of my goals is to break a blocked-shot record, so I'm satisfied with my performance." Johnson's career-high eight blocks were one fewer than the team record shared by Brad Sellers and Herb Williams. No Buckeye has blocked as many shots in a game in 13 years. The 6-foot-11 senior now has 195 career blocked shots to take over second place behind Williams' unreachable 328. The Colonels came in averaging 81.4 points a game but Perry said Johnson's intimidation took them out of their game. "We played very poorly today," he said. "The team you watched today -- that's not the way we usually play." O'Brien agreed. "I think we were good defensively, but Johnson was probably something they hadn't seen this year," he said. "When you look at the tapes of those guys, they're like a track team. They are out and running, shooting 3s and pressing. They didn't play like they showed on tape and Ken had a lot to do with that." Michael Redd, Scoonie Penn and George Reese each scored 11 points and Brian Brown and Brent Darby had 10 for the Buckeyes. Chris Garnett and Whitney Robinson each had 10 points for the Colonels, who hit only three of 20 shots from 3-point range. Lavoris Jerry's follow with 14:43 left in the opening half drew Eastern Kentucky to 14-11. But that was it for the Colonels' offense for almost eight minutes. They missed their next 12 shots as the Buckeyes reeled off 13 straight points for a 27-11 lead. Five players scored during the Ohio State spurt, with Reese hitting the first five points. Ohio State, which led 36-21 at the half, was ahead 42-29 after the Colonels' Robinson hit a basket off an Ohio State turnover with 16:44 remaining. Eastern Kentucky didn't score again until the 3:12 mark on a layup by Robinson, missing 23 consecutive shots from the field while the Buckeyes ran off the next 20 points. Ohio State lost 80-67 at No. 8 Kansas on Thursday night, then didn't arrive home until 3 a.m. Friday. O'Brien said the Buckeyes were sluggish in practice on Saturday. "I think they're all tired right now. All of them," O'Brien said. Ohio State hosts Toledo on Wednesday before breaking for the holiday. "We're just trying to get past Toledo and then have a couple of days off," O'Brien said. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Ken Johnson gets the feed for the alley-oop.avi: 569 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Michael Redd drives the lane and scores.avi: 615 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||