6-0! Buckeyes Beat Butler

They are ranked twenty-first. They are undefeated. And it’s not like they are playing Iona… Sadly, I am assuming their game crowds resemble the crowd at McFadden’s last night…

Evan Turner scored a team-high 14 points, including the go-ahead basket with 3:07 left as 21st-ranked Ohio State edged Butler, 54-51. David Lighty poured in 10 points and had eight rebounds, while Dallas Lauderdale scored nine points and grabbed eight boards for Ohio State (6-0), which was coming off a 67-62 win over Notre Dame on December 6. Jon Diebler contributed eight points and Jeremie Simmons had seven in the win.

With the Buckeyes holding a 29-23 lead after one half, the hosts continued to play front-runner and extended its advantage to 43-30 after a pair of free throws by Lauderdale with 4:20 into the second half. However, Butler got three-pointer by Hayward and a layup by Howard to make it a 50-48 game with 4:40 to go. After Turner made one of two from the free-throw line, Hayward's trey from the corner tied the contest at 51-51 with 3:58 remaining.

Turner's jumper with just over three minutes to play put the Buckeyes up by two and after he missed the front end of a one-and-one from the charity stripe, Lighty was unable to knock down a pair from the line with 1:54 to play. Butler went cold from the field in the closing minutes and one-of-two by Lauderdale put OSU up 54-51 with 1:02 left. Following a Turner miss with 11 seconds to play, the Bulldogs grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 9.7 ticks remaining to draw up a final play. Hayward's three-point attempt from the left side was off the mark and the Buckeyes held on for the three- point win.