Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Move Toward Big Test In Chapel Hill
By John Porentas

The quizzes are over. Now it's time for a midterm.

The No. 3 Buckeyes aced their last mini-test tonight, lacing Youngstown State (2-4) by a final of 91-57 in front of 17,463 at Nationwide Arena. Now the Buckeyes can look forward to the big test, their matchup with North Carolina next Wednesday in Chapel Hill.

The Buckeyes were extremely sharp in the first half against the Penguins and led by a score of 54-25 at the intermission. OSU shot nearly 60 per cent from the field and just over 44 per cent from three point range in essentially ending the game in the first period.

Three Buckeyes were in double figures by the time the first half was over. Ron Lewis had twelve and two players coming off the bench, Matt Terwilliger and Daequan Cook, had 10 and 15 respectively. Cook, who continues in his role as a spark off the bench, also had seven rebounds at the intermission, and in the process did little to diminish his growing reputation as OSU's human highlight reel. Cook's first two shots of the game were three point attempts that he buried. He then hit a midrange jumper for points seven and eight, followed up with another three, then a jumper, and capped off his first half scoring with a highlight reel monster dunk on an inbounds play that had the crowd roaring.

Terwilliger got his ten by staging a mini-run of his own. Terwilliger scored 10 consecutive points for the Buckeyes that included three field goals, a free throw and a three-point goal.

"I thought Matt came in and gave us a tremendous boost," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta. "I think he's getting a pretty good feel for what his capabilities are. He finished well around the basket and I thought he was very active defensively, and that's something we've been really been on Matt about doing and using his athleticism on the defensive end."

Terwilliger's ten straight was impressive, but senior guard Ron Lewis outdid Terwilliger when Lewis hit four consecutive three-point attempts on four consecutive OSU possessions to score 12 points in a row for the Buckeyes.

Until the first media time out I thought we executed and did some good things," said Youngstown State Head Coach Jerry Slocum.

"Ohio State spreads the floor and shots the ball so well and knocked the jump shots down," said Slocum. "Ohio State is just tremendous offensively."

OSU was not as sharp in the second half but still outscored the Penguins 37-32. The Buckeyes cooled of to 40.6 per cent from the field, but still shot 50.7 per cent overall for the game. OSU also outrebounded Youngstown State 45-37 and forced 16 turnovers while committing just 12 of their own.

"I thought we were able to get going off our defense there in the first half," said Matta. "I was really happy and pleased with the effort we gave early on. We lost our intensity there in the second half but the bench game in and gave us a tremendous boost."

Cook ended the game with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to record a double-double. Terwilliger ended with 12 points and two rebounds, but it was senior forward Ivan Harris that led OSU's bench scoring with a game-high 19 points. Harris was seven-of-11 from the field including three-of-five from three point range and two-for-two from the free-throw line. Harris also grabbed five rebounds.

With the Youngstown State game out of the way, the Buckeyes can now begin focusing in their big matchup with North Carolina.

"I'd feel better if Greg was healthy going to North Carolina," said Matta when asked if he thought his team was ready to take on the Tar Heels.

"Greg" is OSU freshman center Greg Oden, regarded by most as the top big man in the country in the freshman class and said by some to be the best big man to come to the game in the last 25 years. Oden is recovering from surgery to repair ligaments in his right hand. Matta said that Oden will not be available to the Buckeyes for the matchup with North Carolina.

"I look at this game, as I told the staff, as a unique opportunity at this stage. I know they have a great basketball team and it will be a great environment in there, so I say lets go down there and play and try to get a feel for where we are after that," Matta said.

"The opportunity on Wednesday night is going to pose some problems that we haven't seen before," Matta said.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm sure we'll have some great teachable moments, things that we're going to face throughout the course of the rest of the season with who we have on the rest of the schedule," Matta said.

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