The Buckeyes put together a determined effort at both ends of the floor to outhustle visiting Morehead State at the Covelli Center on the Ohio State campus. The final score was 77-44.
Offensively the Buckeyes got out and ran when they could to outscore Morehead State 14-0 in fast break points. When they couldn’t get out and run they crashed the offensive glass with a vengeance. OSU outrebounded Morehead State 43-32 with 15 of those 43 being offensive rebounds. That led to a a whopping 15-2 advantage in second chance points.
The Buckeyes were in charge from start to finish and never let MSU really get into the game. OSU was up by ten at the half. MSU cut the lead to eight with the first basket of the second half, but from then on the Buckeyes were just too much for them. OSU steadily build the lead and led by 17 with 8:30 to play. To that point Morehead had kept it relatively close with some good shooting from three point range, but in the last five minutes of the game went into a shooting slump. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, kept scoring and outscored MSU 23-7 to close out the game.
E.J. Liddell led the Buckeyes scoring with 16 points on six of nine shooting from the floor. Four other Buckeyes reached double figures in scoring. Guards Duane Washington and C. J. Walker each had 11 points. Justice Sueing had 11 as well, and Kyle Young had 10. Young was also the game’s leading rebounder and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
OSU shot 44 percent from the field and for the second-straight game was very good at getting to the free throw line and converting. The Buckeyes were 13-16 from the free throw stripe (81.3%).
OSU’s defensive intensity produced seven steals and caused 17 turnovers. The Buckeyes turned the ball over just seven times.