Texas A&M racked up 19 while grabbing 16 offensive rebounds, and considering it won the contest by a margin of 73-66, that proved to be enough of a difference Friday night at the Schottenstein Center.
Wade Taylor IV, Tyrece Radford and Henry Coleman III each played a gargantuan role in Texas A&M’s victory, scoring 21, 21 and 20 points, respectively. Coleman led all rebounders in the game with 11 rebounds.
Bruce Thornton valiantly scored 24 points to lead all scorers on 8-of-20 shooting in the losing effort.
|
TEAM |
1 |
2 |
FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| #15 TEXAS A&M | 34 | 39 | 73 |
|
STATE OF OHIO |
33 |
33 |
66 |
The Buckeyes also showed strong interior defense on Friday. In the first 24 minutes of play, they turned away nine Aggie shot attempts. That was already enough to surpass Ohio State’s record of eight blocks from a year ago. The Buckeyes finished with a total of 10 crushed shots. But it wasn’t enough to secure victory on Friday.
First half
Thornton made a three on the first possession and first shot of the game as the Buckeyes took an early 7-0 advantage, but Texas A&M quickly countered with a 9-2 run to take the lead at 11-9 .
Ohio State had answers, though, first with a strong contested mid-range jumper from Middleton, then a pump fake from Thornton that saw a defender pass to allow him to knock down an open 3.
Roddy Gayle Jr. added a floater to give Ohio State a 16-13 lead with 13:05 left in the first half.
Sloppy play ensued. Errant passes were thrown from both sides, including miscommunication during an attempted cross pass from Middleton to Gayle. Dale Bonner dribbled into a backcourt violation, stuck against an Aggie defender. However, during the half, the Buckeyes and Aggies only had three turnovers each.
Coming out of the sequence, Jamison Battle hit a triple from the left wing that gave the Buckeyes another two-point lead at 21-17 with 7:41 left before halftime.
However, offensive rebounding kept Texas A&M in the contest. The Aggies’ Andersson Garcia grabbed an offensive board and fed it to Coleman and another offensive rebound from Coleman led to an open 3 for Radford to tie the game at 24.
Even a defensive rebound initially grabbed by Gayle was stolen from his hands and put down by Radford. Texas A&M enjoyed an 8-2 advantage in the first half in offensive rebounds and 13-2 in second-chance points.
None of that stopped Gayle from launching a thunderous alley-oop from Thornton that drew the loudest pop from an engaged Value City Arena crowd, however, giving the Buckeyes a 31-28 lead at the timeout media for under-fours.
Texas A&M, however, used a 6-0 run to take a 34-33 halftime advantage.
Second part
|
STATE OF OHIO |
STATUS |
TEXAS A&M |
|---|---|---|
|
66 |
POINTS |
73 |
|
26-62 years (41.9%) |
MGF-FGA (PCT.) |
27-63 years (42.9%) |
|
4-19 (21.1%) |
3 p.m.-3 p.m. (PCT.) |
3-18 years (16.7%) |
|
10-17 years (58.8%) |
FTM-ALE (PCT.) |
16-23 years old (69.6%) |
|
8 |
TURNOVER |
6 |
|
35 |
TOTAL REBOUNDS |
45 |
|
12 |
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS |
16 |
|
23 |
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS |
29 |
|
14 |
BENCH POINTS |
7 |
|
ten |
BLOCKS |
1 |
|
2 |
THEFT |
3 |
|
11 |
ASSISTED |
8 |
Ohio State’s interior defense was starting to make an impact on the offense.
After Evan Mahaffey rejected a Coleman shot, Ohio State initiated a fast break that was capped by a Bonner layup tallied for the goalie.
However, the second half remained mostly straightforward. Swing after swing just kept happening. By the time Texas A&M point guard Wade Taylor IV converted a layup and ensuing free throw to give the Aggies a 51-49 lead with less than 11 minutes to play, there had been 19 turnovers ahead in the competition, six of the last six making baskets.
Zed Key began to have success in this sequence, making his own layup before Taylor’s and turning away a missed shot afterward to knot the game at 51 apiece.
After Radford once again gave the Aggies the lead, Thornton responded with a floater that rolled around the rim and dropped to tie it 53-53 with 7:32 left.
Then, for the first time in the second half, a team had a two score difference. Texas A&M got buckets from Taylor and Coleman to make it a 57-53 game, then exchanged a Thornton free throw with a layup from Taylor to go ahead 59-54.
Ohio State tried to cut the deficit on a Mahaffey layup, but was once again thwarted by the Aggies’ offensive rebound and trailed 61-56 with 4:50 left after Garcia put away the miss. ‘a teammate.
Thornton banked in a layup and one for three points to bring Ohio State within 63-60 only for Radford to foul off the offensive glass to make it 65-60 at the charity stripe.
Ohio State never came within a score again as the Aggies made five free throws in the final minute and Battle fouled out with 38 seconds left.
And after?
Ohio State takes on Merrimack College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Value City Arena. The game will be broadcast by Big Ten Network.
Game notes
-
Basketball Hall of Famer and member of Ohio State’s 1960 national championship team, Jerry Lucas, was on hand for Friday’s game.
-
Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr. combined for 11 assists against the Aggies, but no other player on Ohio State’s roster recorded a single one.
-
Ohio State shot just 4 of 19 from 3, although Texas A&M shot an even worse 3 of 18.
-
The Buckeyes also made just 10 of 17 (59%) from the free throw line.
-
There was a corgi race at halftime with about 10 dogs running around the field at Value City Arena.