Ohio State beats Puerto Rico to close Bahamas trip with pair of exhibition wins
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Party music played out over the speakers as Ohio State gathered for a team photo. Everyone, from the 15 members of the roster to the team’s coaching staff, managers and social media producers assembled atop the Battle 4 Atlantis logo on the court inside the Imperial Ballroom in Atlantis.
The Battle 4 Atlantis isn’t for another three months, and the Buckeyes won’t be part of it for at least two more years. But after a 75-68 win against the Puerto Rican national team capped their foreign exhibition tour with wins on consecutive days, the players had a lot to smile about.
Behind 20 points from freshman Brice Sensabaugh, 13 from junior Zed Key and a defensive effort that improved as the game progressed, Ohio State closed the door on its summer with a body of work to reflect upon and the first morsels of information that will be put into use this season.
Ohio State basketball insider: Stay in the know with texts from beat reporter Adam Jardy
Scotty Middleton: Five-star forward Scotty Middleton joins Devin Royal, commits to Ohio State in 2023 class
Ohio State’s wins against Egypt (72-68) and Puerto Rico were close affairs that tested a roster with four freshmen and three transfers expected to carry heavy minutes this season and left a strong impression on coach Chris Holtmann.
“Couldn’t have scripted it any better, honestly, for a team that we’ve got to learn more about earlier than what we ever have,” he said. “We’ve never had this number of new faces and this number of new faces that are going to need to play for us and play well. We have to speed up our learning curve as a group, so exactly what we wanted to accomplish, we did.”
A familiar face gave the Buckeyes fits early. Alfonso Plummer, who hit eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points in a losing effort for Illinois against Ohio State last season was born in Puerto Rico and suited up for his national team. Four minutes in, Plummer had hit three 3-pointers, one of which was a four-point play courtesy of a late Tanner Holden closeout and the Buckeyes trailed 12-4. When Plummer scored on a drive a few moments later to give him 12 points, the Ohio State deficit was a game-high nine points as Puerto Rico led 17-8.
As the national team’s bench players cheered their countrymen on, Ohio State steadied itself with a run to end the first half. Sensabaugh banked in a straight-on 3-pointer, then three of his classmates converted a fast-break opportunity when Bruce Thornton pushed the ball to Roddy Gayle up the right wing only to give it to a trailing Felix Okpara, who threw down a strong dunk.
When those four freshmen along with West Virginia transfer guard Sean McNeil forced a shot-clock violation to end the quarter, the Buckeyes were roaring despite trailing 20-17. They took the lead for good at 28-26 with 4:43 left in the first half, and they did it with style.
Key scored through contact, drew the foul and unveiled his “finger guns” celebration as the crowd of mostly family members – which, surprisingly, a vacationing Akron coach John Groce – cheered. Key wasn’t done with the theatrics or the scoring. When he slammed home two more points with 3:37 left in the third quarter, it pushed the Ohio State lead to 54-43 and led to a Puerto Rico timeout.
“That’s a first,” Key said with a smile. “It feels good to have them back, raise the roof and finger guys in the Bahamas, internationally. I was excited to get to do both.”
Ohio State’s lead reached a game-high 13 points with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter when Thornton drove through traffic and finished while absorbing a hard foul that nearly sent him sliding off the slightly raised hardwood and onto the garish carpet below, but the offense went stagnant and Puerto Rico slowly chipped away. When Holden converted a three-point play with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter, it snapped a stretch of 12 possessions with just one field goal and two turnovers and pushed the lead back to 65-58.
Puerto Rico’s last gasp came during the final two minutes when Oklahoma State graduate transfer guard Isaac Likekele drove the left baseline, picked up his dribble and threw the ball back upcourt where it was easily nabbed by Jordan Cintron, who converted the layup to cut Ohio State’s lead to 71-68. After a Sensabaugh 3-point miss, Puerto Rico had a chance to tie the game until Likekele picked Plummer’s pocket and stole the ball, setting up a possession Thornton finished with a drive to shut the door.
Plummer finished with 20 points after scoring 12 in the first few minutes as Likekele in particular locked in on him defensively.
“He brings us an edge and a toughness and a physicality and an attention to detail that we’ve needed on the perimeter,” Holtmann said of Likekele. “He has the ability to match up with different perimeters and turn their water off, and I think that’s a thing that you need when you’re playing against the kind of competition that we’ve played against.”
Holtmann stuck with his plan to utilize starters based on a Friday shooting drill to close practice, and against Puerto Rico he went with Gayle, Gene Brown III, Likekele, Kalen Etzler and Okpara. What it will look like when Ohio State opens the regular season with a Nov. 7 home game with Robert Morris is anyone’s guess. The Buckeyes left the Bahamas without sustaining any injuries and expect to get injured veterans Justice Sueing and Seth Towns back in September.
On Sunday, it was time to exhale, appreciate the wins for what they are and recognize that the hard work and big decisions all lie ahead.
“I really wanted to get out of this thing injury-free and we were able to do that, which is good,” Holtmann said. “Really all of our goals we were hoping for were accomplished. Now, I want to finish the trip well and have fun and let these guys enjoy.”
Monday, the Buckeyes were set to take a catamaran cruise and enjoy more time on the beach and water slides before players are sent home for some family time.
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State caps Bahamas trip with win over Puerto Rico
