Ohio State Buckeyes crush North Florida Ospreys 85-50: NCAA Basketball Recap
Ohio State Buckeyes are on a roll.
After humiliating Jackson State Tigers last week, they crushed North Florida Ospreys 85-50 in their fourth outing of NCAA basketball tournament 2011 on Monday, 21st November.
Ohio did not start the game in a convincing manner and missed plenty of scoring opportunities in the first half, but despite the errors, they managed to acquire a 19 point lead by the end of the half thanks to a rock solid defense.
The lead provided them the required confidence to change gears in the second half and just seconds before the buzzer, they found themselves 35 points ahead of their opponents, the North Florida Ospreys.
Jared Sullinger was outstanding for the Buckeyes. He completed a double-double with mammoth 27 points on an accurate 9 for 10 shooting from the free throw line and 13 rebounds. Deshaun Thomas scored 16 points and pulled down 6 rebounds whereas William Buford, putting up an all round performance, accumulated 13, dished out 4 assists and forced 5 rebounds for the winning team.
From Ospreys, only Parker Smith (10) managed to end with scores in double figures, which pretty much up the king of night they had.
Ospreys David Jeune scored the first points of the game through a wild jumper in the opening minute but was immediately countered with a trey from Deshaun. Two back to back layups from Andy Diaz and Jimmy Williams Jr. provided North Florida a 6-5 lead, their first and only in the game. The next few saw Ohio reel off an 8-2 run. Buford scored six points in that run and capped it with a three point play. With the scores at 18-14 midway through the half, Buford was again in action as he slipped in two free throws to initiate a 19-7 spurt.
Sullinger and Deshaun were unstoppable in that spell. They scored in quick successions and were supported by an outstanding defense which held the opponents and the first half ended with Ohio State leading by 19 points, 45-26.
Things only got worse for the Ospreys in the second half as lead kept swelling with time and unable to find baskets, they got frustrated. The fate of the game had already been decided midway through the half when the scores were 71-47 in the favour of Ohio.
Ospreys gave up the fight there and in next five minutes scored just three points.
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