The suddenly reeling Ohio State basketball team struggled through a tough shooting night, falling to the 19^th ranked Maryland Terrapins 75-61 to drop to 12-5 and 2-4 in conference play.  The Buckeyes suffered through a cold shooting night, hitting only 39% of their shot attempts including just 6 of 26 from deep, which resulted in their 4^th straight defeat. C.J. Jackson led the Buckeyes with 15, but made just 1 of 6 from long range.  Duane Washington added 14 and Kaleb Wesson 11 for a team in desperate for something positive to go their way.

The Buckeyes got out to an early 6-3 lead thanks to a pair of offensive rebounds and four points from Kaleb Wesson.  Maryland would answer with a 7-0 run to go up four as Ohio State went over 3:30 without a field goal.  Keyshawn Woods ended that run with a pull up jumper from 15 just beyond the foul line to trim the lead to 2 with 14:30 remaining in the half.  Out of the media timeout with the shot clock expiring, Duane Washington buried a long three from the top of the key to cut the Terp lead to just one.  The Terps would answer with a three of their own before the Buckeyes went on a 5-0 mini run to go in front capped off by a three from the corner off the fingers of Andre Wesson.  Ohio State hung in despite the Terps hot shooting from deep by being active on the offensive glass, getting second chance opportunities and a pair of put backs from Kyle Young.  But a pair of turnovers and a couple of misses on the offensive end and the Terps took advantage, going on an 8-0 run to lead 38-30 going into the final media timeout of the half.  Ohio State got the lead cut to 4 on a spin move from Washington but Maryland took the lead back to 7 on the next possession with 3 free throws with just over a minute to go.  Washington buried a 3 with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead back to 4 but the Terps answered again, burying yet another triple to head to the locker room up 7.  The Buckeyes were as close as 4 late, but 3 missed free throws in a row, one on a front end of a one and one, hurt their chances of getting even closer.  7 Terp threes on 10 attempts contributed to the Maryland 45-38 halftime advantage.  Washington led Ohio State with 12 first half points and C.J. Jackson added 8.

The Buckeyes went right to Kaleb Wesson to start the second half and his lay in trimmed the lead to 5.  3 Maryland turnovers, turned into 4 points and Maryland was forced to call timeout just a minute and a half into the second 20 minutes with the Buckeyes trimming the Terp lead to just 1.  A Maryland 3 out of the timeout extended the lead to 4 and the Buckeyes suddenly would find things more difficult offensively and the Terps took advantage, going on a 7-0 run to lead by 8 heading into the under 16 media timeout.  Maryland would extend their run to 10 straight to lead by 11 as Ohio State went 5 minutes without points before Andre Wesson scored on a dribble drive and short jumper.  Maryland buried yet another three from the short corner to grab their biggest lead of the game of 12 on the next possession with just 13 minutes remaining.  A steal and transition layup from C.J. Jackson trimmed the lead to 9 with just over 10 minutes remaining as Ohio State utilized defense to create some offense to try to get back into it forcing Maryland into 8 second half turnovers to that point.  The Buckeyes would trim it to 6 off another Maryland turnover as Luther Muhammad found Duane Washington for the transition 3 from the left wing and Ohio State was gaining momentum.  A long Maryland three from the top as the shot clock expired ended the Buckeye run and quieted the crowd temporarily and put the Terps back up 9.  The Buckeyes answered right back as Kaleb Wesson was left alone at the top of the key and calmly buried the three and Ohio State was back within 6 with just over 8 minutes to go.  However, that’s as close as the Buckeyes would get as they would once again go on a long scoring drought, settling for long jumpers and only finding iron as Maryland took control, building the lead to 14 forcing Chris Holtmann to call timeout with 2:47 remaining with the game all but over.  Ohio State would not get it back into single digits as the hot shooting Terps would come out victorious on this night, winning their seventh straight and sending the Buckeyes back to the locker room looking for answers.

For Ohio State, it’s getting late early.  Four straight defeats has the young Buckeyes searching for something positive to get this season turned around.  The halfcourt offense is struggling right now and when shots don’t fall for long stretches, it makes things very difficult to stay engaged on both ends of the floor.  Their confidence is lacking shooting the basketball and it’s carrying over to the defensive end as they allowed Maryland to shoot 58% from the field and 11 of 17 from long range despite forcing 19 turnovers and only turning it over 10 times themselves.  Those kinds of turnover numbers typically result in a win, but when you settle for long-range jumpers and don’t hit, you allow the opposition to control the tempo and ultimately, like tonight, win the game.  It won’t get any easier but Ohio State will get back to work and try to break this streak next week.

The Buckeyes look to get back into the win column on Wednesday night when they welcome Purdue to the Schott.  Tip time scheduled for 7pm on BTN.

-Jason Harris