Tigers can't keep up with No. 7 Buckeyes: 85-45

[December 13, 2012]  COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Horace Broadnax just hopes his team gains something from a road beating.

Arnold Louis came off the bench to score 14 points but there was little production elsewhere as Savannah State came out on the wrong end of an 85-45 drubbing at the hands of No. 7 Ohio State on Wednesday night.

"We did some bad-habit things and if it carries over to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference it's going to be a long season for us," Broadnax said.

Hassan Rashad scored the first basket of the game but it was all downhill from there for the Tigers (5-5), who fell behind 42-18 at the half while shooting just 33 percent.

Savannah State shot 37 percent from the field, made just 1 of 10 3-point attempts and was only 4 of 9 at the line, plus was outrebounded 48-21 and had 20 turnovers.

What disappointed Broadnax even more was the way his team guarded the Buckeyes (7-1).

"On the defensive end we were trying to get some things accomplished," he said. "I'm going to look at the defensive clips; I'm not going to grade these guys on the offense. We were trying to do some of the same things that Ohio State was doing: Keep the ball to the sideline, force the ball to the baseline. In five or six possessions, once we forced it to the baseline and got a couple of double-teams, we were successful. We're going to look at that."

Deshaun Thomas was a one-man wrecking crew for Ohio State. He scored all but one of his 22 points in the opening half. LaQuinton Ross scored all of his 13 points after halftime, with Shannon Scott adding 12 points and four steals and center Evan Ravenel chipping in with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Broadnax, a mainstay on the great Georgetown teams of the early 1980s, joked that his players lost track of Thomas.

"I guess we didn't understand the scouting report on Thomas that he could shoot the basketball because we left him open a lot," he said.

The Tigers came in relying on their stingy defense. They were allowing only 53.0 points a game, with their opponents shooting 37.1 percent from the field.

But the Buckeyes, averaging 78 points, dominated at both ends and scored in transition to pile up a big lead. They hit 10 of 19 shots behind the arc while shooting 48 percent from the field for the game.

"We knew the whole time they were going to be playing fast," said Scott, the son of former North Carolina and NBA star Charlie Scott. "We watched film on them and saw they were going to try to pressure everybody. And press all the time. We were able to attack their pressure and make plays happen."

The Buckeyes made 7 of 10 3-pointers in the opening half to pull away to an 18-point lead. Thomas led the way, hitting 4 of 6 while scoring 21 -- three more points than the Tigers accumulated in the half.

Down 42-18 at the break, Savannah State scored seven of the first nine points of the second half but Ohio State started picking up points in transition to stretch the lead, which gradually grew.

"Our objective is to try and be as positive and competitive as we possibly can in the MEAC and we didn't do what we wanted to do tonight," Broadnax said. "Not necessarily looking at the score, but I don't think we did what we needed to do on the defensive end."

[Associated Press; By RUSTY MILLER]

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