by By John Antonik
West Virginia took Ohio State to overtime, but the Buckeyes made enough plays down the stretch to hold on for a 78-75 victory over the Mountaineers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the Legends of Basketball Showcase triple-header.
Ohio University played Davidson in the first game while Appalachian State and St. Bonaventure met in game two.
The nightcap appeared headed toward a Buckeye rout when Ohio State took an early 24-10 lead, but WVU switched to a 2-3 zone defense and outscored the Buckeyes 16-4 over the final eight minutes of the first half to trail 28-26 at intermission.
The Buckeyes (11-2) outscored WVU 12-4 during a four-minute stretch to begin the second half, pushing their lead back to 10, 40-30, but the Mountaineers kept hanging around.
A Josiah Harris three-point play reduced Ohio State’s lead to four, 42-38, with 13:10 left and then Noah Farrakhan’s turnaround jumper two minutes later made it a two-point game.
Ohio State answered with five quick points and then Scotty Middleton’s 3 gave the Buckeyes an eight-point lead, 50-42, with 9:38 to go.
West Virginia fought back once more, the Mountaineers getting a pair of baskets from Farrakhan and a 3 from RaeQuan Battle to keep it a one-possession game.
The Buckeyes got their lead back to nine, 58-49, with 6:59 remaining yet couldn’t close the door. Patrick Suemnick’s three-point play and then a pair of Suemnick baskets 45 seconds apart tied the game at 65 with 29 seconds remaining.
Ohio State called timeout with 18 seconds left to draw up a game-winning shot, but Roddy Gayle Jr.’s turnaround jumper in the paint came up short.
The extra session saw Ohio State use the 3-ball to build its lead. Jamison Battle began overtime with a 3 from the wing, Gayle added another triple and Bruce Thornton hit a third with 2:03 left to push Ohio State’s margin back to six, 77-71.
RaeQuan Battle’s two free throws reduced the lead to four, and then he came up with a steal and a dunk to make it a one-possession game with 50 seconds left.
From here, neither team could cash in at the free throw line. Ohio State’s Evan Mahaffey missed a pair with 20 seconds left and then Thornton opted to foul Kerr Kriisa with 12 seconds remaining and the Buckeyes leading by three.
Kriisa missed the front end of the one-and-one, Jamison Battle grabbed the rebound and Ohio State was able to run out the clock.
“We battled,” a disappointed West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said afterward. “Early in the first half I was worried about the way we were rebounding, and I challenged them to fix it and they certainly took on that challenge.
“The zone bothered them, and we knew it probably would. It’s a game of inches down the stretch and you’ve got to get something to go your way.”
Ohio State made just 2-of-15 from behind the arc in the first half before discovering its shooting stroke after intermission. The Buckeyes hit 9-of-19 for the remainder of the game to finish 11-of-34 overall.
West Virginia, now 5-8, could only make on 5 of its 22 triples.
“In an overtime game we only made five 3s and in this day and age when you are trying to win basketball games, five 3s isn’t going to cut it,” Eilert said.
The defensive glass was once again a big issue for the Mountaineers, who allowed 18 offensive rebounds to the Buckeyes including one possession in the first half when Ohio State had four tries at the basket before scoring.
WVU did much better rebounding the ball after switching to a 2-3 zone defense and finished the night with a deficit of only one, 47-46.
“It shouldn’t be this way, but it seemed like out of the 2-3 zone we were rebounding the ball a lot better than we were in man, so that certainly helped things,” Eilert said.
Gayle led all scorers with 32 points, the guard hitting 11 of his 21 shot attempts, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range. Jamison Battle, who was helped off the floor with an injured ankle early in the game, returned to contribute 17 points and nine rebounds and Thornton finished with 11 points and seven boards.
RaeQuan Battle, despite missing a good portion of the first half in early foul trouble, finished the game with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Eilert thought Battle was fouled while attempting a 3-point shot late in overtime that could have made it a two-point game and was assessed a technical foul for arguing the no call.
“I was three feet from it,” Eilert said. “I’m pretty clear what I saw. I’m a pretty mild-mannered guy but it definitely affected his shot, and we should have been at the line shooting three free throws and that changes the game. It’s a shame it went in that direction, and I hate to put our team at a disadvantage.”
Both free throw attempts were missed by Gayle, however.
Farrakhan scored 19 before fouling out in overtime. Forward Quinn Slazinski added 11 for the Mountaineers, which shot 42.6% overall including 48.6% in the second half to get back into the game.
