Men's Basketball

Buckeyes Come Back, Hold On for 73-71 Win Over Bucknell

by Tony Gerdeman

Led by a dominating effort from sophomore center Kaleb Wesson, No. 15 Ohio State (9-1, 2-0) defeated the Bucknell Bison 73-71 in a game that featured as many runs as a Buckeye football game from the 1970s.

Wesson led all scorers with 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He also hit nine of his 10 free throw attempts and had a game-high 10 rebounds.

While this game had momentum shifts throughout, Wesson generally provided shifts all by himself, finishing with a team high +10 in plus/minus.

Bucknell made Ohio State earn this one, however, as they hit 9-of-17 3-pointers in the first half, and then two more in the final 33 seconds to make it a 2-point game.

Trailing 73-71, the Bison forced a scrambling turnover with 14 seconds to play, then called a timeout to set up their final play.

It was a play that at least one Buckeye was expecting.

“Well, because I was talking to one of the players, I knew they wanted to end the game,” said point guard Keyshawn Woods. “So they have a certain play that they like to run when it comes to the baseline drift and trying to get that shooter to come off, and [Avi Toomer] had just made a three on my mistake, so I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

While the Buckeyes did scout that final play and were prepared for it, Buckeye head coach Chris Holtmann would have appreciated an on-court heads up.

“I didn’t know that,” Holtmann said of Woods’ conversation. “Be nice if he had passed that along to the coaches at some point.”

Bucknell’s first basket should have been a hint of things to come, as junior guard Avi Toomer got the Bisons on the board with a 3-pointer in the first minute of the game. That three, however, was answered by a pair of threes from freshman guard Luther Muhammad and Kaleb Wesson. Wesson added a layup right after his three to make it 11-3 Buckeyes five minutes into the game.

The Buckeyes were up 17-10 a few minutes later, but a 3-pointer from freshman guard Andrew Funk cut the lead to 17-13. Bucknell’s next two baskets were also from behind the three-point line, but it was only allowing them to stay within arm’s reach of Ohio State, who continued to score.

Buckeye freshman guard Duane Washington sandwiched a pair of threes around another 3-pointer from Toomer, giving Ohio State an 8-point lead. A layup from Muhammad made it 35-25 with 5:09 to play, which was followed by a layup from Kaleb Wesson one minute later.

Ohio State held a 37-25 lead with four minutes to play in the half, and then Bucknell took over.

The Bison went on a 15-0 run in three-and-a-half minutes, capped by a 3-pointer by guard Jimmy Sotos to give Bucknell a 40-37 lead. It was the fourth 3-pointer of the 15-0 run.

Keyshawn Woods hit a jumper in the final seconds to stop the bleeding and cut the lead to 40-39 at the half.

Bucknell started the second half just as they ended the first, getting a three from forward Bruce Moore and building up a 47-41 lead.

The game then turned on a foul by Musa Jallow, who looked to get a clean block on a dunk attempt by 6-foot-9 center Nick Sestina. Sestina hit both of his free throws, but the call fired up the crowd and the Buckeyes.

It took just over three minutes for Ohio State to regain the lead, thanks to point guards Keyshawn Woods and C.J. Jackson, who combined for 10 of OSU’s 12 points to make it 53-52 Buckeyes.

The run continued, as Ohio State built the lead to as many as 11 points with 4:28 to play in the game. At 69-59 with 3:53 to play, however, the Bison began chipping away via desperation threes, and almost left town with a victory over the Buckeyes.

Up next for Ohio State is a home game Tuesday night at 7:00 pm against Youngstown State on BTN.

The Star

Kaleb Wesson was the difference in this game because Bucknell had no answers for him. He scored 22 points in his 26 minutes, grabbed 10 rebounds, and also dished out four assists. He also had four turnovers, which he said was way too many after the game. But you can forgive him based on everything else that he was able to provide on the day.

Quick Thoughts

+ Andre Wesson hit the floor hard in this game and paid for it. It didn’t keep him out of action for long, however.

Wesson scored four points on 2-of-8 shooting, but grabbed nine rebounds in 28 minutes of action.

+ Keyshawn Woods, as he normally does, came off the bench and provided the kind of veteran leadership that Chris Holtmann wants. He scored 13 points, and hit some key shots throughout the game. Holtmann pointed at Woods as one of the few guys on this team who can create his own shot, which Woods did several times on the day.

+ Ohio State went on a 28-9 run following the foul called on Musa Jallow while attempting to block a dunk by Bucknell center Nate Sestina. According to Woods, that play fired them up and got them going.

“We didn’t think it was a foul, but because he went up there and challenged the big man, in our eyes it was a block,” he said. “Also, then Dre (Wesson) went down as well, with his teeth, all of that factored in on that run.”

The Postgame

The Box Score

[Keyshawn Woods photo courtesy OhioStateBuckeyes.com. | Ohio State Basketball]
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4 Responses

  1. All good comments. Looking at the 13 turnovers compared to 8 for Bucknell including six steals indicates a team just not ready to play. A 10 day layoff will do that. On to the Penguins who may get the beat down by a team reawakened.

  2. It was an interesting game, that revealed a lot about this team. They didn’t appear to take Bucknell seriously. They would jump all over the Bison’s and almost look completely dispassionate once they gained a lead. Like they were simply uninterested in finishing the job. They’d jump up, fall asleep, wake up and realize their superiority had been erased, fight back and return to sleep.

    If this team has a serious flaw, it’s not taking every opponent seriously and playing wire to wire.

    It was a really weird game to watch. They won it and that’s good. How they won it shouldn’t have played out the way it did. Work to do.

  3. While many expected a blow out, Bucknell is a seasoned NCAA Tourney team that wouldn’t go away. OSU did stifle them for 11/12 last minutes of the game, they hit those back to back ‘downtown threes’, and not sure how they got possession after so many ‘travels,’ on that last possession. However, NOT sure OSU took this as seriously as they should or this is just that type of scrappy team. The big thing is a win is a win, OSU was really good at the line hitting what? 8/10 down the stretch.

  4. Well done Buckeyes!! These are the types of games that can really prepare them for a nice postseason run

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