|
 Hey, at least they don't have to mess with Florida this time.
Jamar Butler and Evan Turner scored 17 each, and the Buckeyes used a buckling half-court trap and an early 14-0 run to beat Mississippi 81-69 on Tuesday night in the NIT semifinals.
Ohio State (23-13) will play Massachusetts in the championship Thursday night, after the Minutemen knocked off Florida 78-66 and allowed a small but vocal contingent of Buckeye fans to breath a little easier before their game even began.
The Gators have been their nemesis for the past 18 months, romping over Ohio State to win the 2007 BCS championship game and then knocking off Greg Oden and the Buckeyes at the Final Four in Atlanta for a second straight basketball title.
Instead, Ohio State will get a Massachusetts team that has shown incredible resiliency in rallying from second-half deficits of 12 against Akron, 22 against Syracuse and nine against the Gators just to reach the NIT championship.
Ole Miss (24-11) tried to summon some of that magic in the second half, slapping on its own trap and slowly whittling down a 27-point deficit.
The lead was 56-38 when freshman Chris Warren hit a 3-pointer and Trevor Gaskins followed with a pair of free throws
-- the first points by a nonstarter for Ole Miss. Seconds later, Kenny Williams converted a turnover by Butler to make it 56-45 with 12 minutes left.
The Rebels put one last run together, with Warren hitting three 3s on consecutive possessions to get within 75-68 with 1:32 remaining. But Butler, the all-Big Ten guard, scored on a driving layup to help put the game away.
Warren had 18 points for Ole Miss, which already had the second-most wins in school history despite having three freshman and two sophomores in its regular rotation. David Huertas added 16 points, Dwayne Curtis had 12 points and 15 rebounds, and Williams scored 11.
[to top of second column] |
The youthful Rebels seemed to settle down after a bleak first half, when Ohio State picked them up at the midcourt line and pressured them into turnover after turnover.
The game was tied when the Buckeyes went on their big run, getting eight of 14 straight points off turnovers and taking a 27-10 lead on a jumper by Turner with 10:20 to go.
David Lighty and Kosta Koufas added 16 points each for the Buckeyes, who lost Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook to the NBA draft from last year's national runner-up
-- a crippling blow to most programs.
Yet Ohio State still had an RPI of 42 with wins over NCAA tournament teams Michigan State and Purdue in March, and seemed to have an outside chance of making the big tournament until the final name was read on Selection Sunday.
The Buckeyes didn't ponder their misfortune, regrouping to rout UNC-Asheville, California and Dayton to reach Madison Square Garden. Now they have a chance to do what they failed to last season: end it with a win.
[Associated Press; By DAVE SKRETTA]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
|
