Ohio State pulls away in second half for blowout win against St. Francis
First, it was a Sean McNeil 3-point miss. Then it was a Tanner Holden miss on a putback on the next possession. Then, it was a putback of a Bruce Thornton 3-point miss.
Each time, Zed Key was there for the offense rebound. Sometimes it required multiple efforts, like the three tips needed to corral McNeil’s miss. But each time, it led to a second-half bucket from the Buckeyes’ big man, and it would prove to be the effort needed to finally put distance between No. 25 Ohio State and visiting St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena.
Key’s three field goals, sandwiched around a transition dunk on a feed from Justice Sueing, helped the Buckeyes (6-2) pull away against the Red Flash (2-7), 96-59.
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"I just didn’t think that we were playing hard enough in the first half," OSU coach Chris Holtmann said. "Some of that can be blamed on fatigue, but more than anything we weren’t playing hard enough. Any coach will tell you when they return from Maui that the next couple weeks are concerning because of just the fatigue factor."
In the first home game in 17 days for a team that went 2-1 in the Maui Invitational and lost at No. 17 Duke on Wednesday Ohio State was never seriously threatened by a St. Francis team that arrived ranked No. 331 nationally by KenPom.com and with just one win against a Division I team this season. But with a Big Ten opener against Rutgers next on the schedule, a buy game against the Red Flash was closer than Holtmann likely would’ve liked for the first 25 minutes or so.
St. Francis was within 53-43 with 16 minutes to play when Key got going and the Buckeyes followed suit. His streak of eight straight points started a sequence where Ohio State scored on eight of nine possessions but, more importantly, coincided with a better defensive performance.
From 16:37 until 4:59, Ohio State held St. Francis to only two made field goals while steadily pulling away.
"Sticking to our principles," Tanner Holden, who had 8 points and five rebounds, said of the keys to the second half. "That first half, we shied away from that. That was what let that deficit get closer and closer. Overall we just played together, we stuck to our principles and dominated effort plays. Overall, we just stuck together and played defense how we know to."
By the end, it was a game for the highlight reels. Brice Sensabaugh had a four-point play on his way to a game-high 15 points. Felix Okpara slammed home an alley-oop from Isaac Likekele, then forced a jump ball at the other end with a blocked shot from behind. Roddy Gayle, mostly invisible in his past four games, hit a 3-pointer, blocked a shot of his own and scored in double figures. Even lightly used reserve Kalen Etzler canned a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Okpara finished with his first career double-double at 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Fellow freshman Bruce Thornton also scored 13 points, giving all four freshmen in the rotation double-digit scoring games for the first time this season.
Okpara's double-double was clinched when he swished his first career 3-pointer from the top of the circle on a play he said assistant coach Jake Diebler drew up for him. Asked which was more fun, dunking an alley-oop or hitting the jumper, the freshman had a quick answer.
"It’s the 3-pointer for me," he said. "I dunk every day, so dunking gets old at times. My first 3-pointer in college basketball so I’m really excited."
Key opened the game with an offensive rebound and right-handed slam dunk as the Buckeyes scored on eight of their first nine possessions and made it look easy in building a 19-9 lead. The final three field goals were all 3-pointers from Justice Sueing, Brice Sensabaugh and Bruce Thornton in succession.
The lead would still grow from there, reaching 16 points at 27-11 when Tanner Holden hit one of two free throws after being fouled on a nice lob from Sensabaugh with 12:09 left. But instead of folding, St. Francis settled in started to inch closer. A 3-pointer from the left corner from Cincinnati Moeller product Maxwell Land made it a single-digit deficit for the first time since it was a 19-11 Ohio State lead, pulling the Red Flash within 35-27 with 5:52 left in the half.
Ohio State took a 44-36 lead into the locker room but was outshot by the Red Flash, 55.2% (16 for 29) to 51.6% (16 for 31). Included in those last five minutes were an airballed 3-pointer from Sueing early in the shot clock and a missed, wide-open dunk from Sensabaugh that otherwise would’ve made the end-of-season highlight tape.
Holtmann was able to empty the bench by the end, inserting walk-ons Colby Baumann and Owen Spencer with 2:07 to play.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Zed Key, Ohio State pull away from St. Francis (Pa.) in blowout
