Ohio State moved to 8-2 in the Jake Diebler era, playing the part of a poor host in the 2nd round of the NIT, dispatching the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies 81-73 to move to the NIT quarterfinals. The Buckeyes improve to 22-13, while Virginia Tech’s season ends with a 19-15 mark. The Hokies ran out to an early 7-0 lead, but from there the Buckeyes took over, building a lead as large as 13 in the first half and never trailing again, fighting off a second half Hokie rally to survive and advance. Ohio State didn’t have one of their better shooting nights, hitting on just 39% including just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc, but defensively they held the Hokies to just 41% on the night. The Buckeyes held a 40-38 rebounding edge and assisted on 14 of their 24 made buckets, while forcing 15 Virginia Tech turnovers. Jamison Battle led Ohio State with a game high 21 points, 17 of them from the stripe as he failed to record a three point field goal for the first time all season. Felix Okpara added 13 while Bruce Thornton filled the stat sheet, scoring 12, grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists. Dale Bonner came off the bench to add 12 and Roddy Gayle chipped in 11 for the winners. The Hokies were led by Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla’s 18, while Lynn Kidd added 13. 

The Hokies opened up the ballgame scoring the first 7 as Ohio State opened 0-5 with 3 turnovers. Almost 4 minutes into the game, the Buckeyes finally got on the board when Roddy Gayle buried a triple from the right wing and at the first media timeout, Virginia Tech led 7-3. The Buckeyes got to within a point when Dale Bonner pump faked, side stepped and drilled a three from the top. The Hokies answered with a three and added two more to double up the Buckeyes. Bruce Thornton hit a 15 foot jumper to trim the Hokie lead and at the under 12, Virginia Tech led 12-8. Ohio State got closer when Thornton got to the rim off the bounce and scored off the window and tied it when Bonner hit a floater in the lane. The Buckeyes grabbed their first lead when Zed Key dropped in a left handed hook on the left baseline and added to the lead when Thornton lobbed to Gayle for two. The Hokies stopped the 10-0 run with a jumper from the right wing, and after Jamison Battle split a pair of free throws, a Hokie bucket through contact stopped play for the under 8 with Ohio State clinging to a 17-16 lead. Out of the timeout, the free throw dropped to complete the old-fashioned three point play and tie the game, but an Okpara bucket on the other end shifted the scoreboard back in favor of Ohio State. After VT tied it with a short paint jumper, Taison Chatman drilled a three from the left wing. Ohio State added to the lead when Devin Royal dropped in a short turnaround jumper in the lane and when Thornton forced a Hokie turnover, he fed ahead to Battle for a dunk. The Hokies trimmed the lead with a jumper from the line, but Battle hit a  short jumper to answer. After a Hokie miss, Ohio State got out in transition where Okpara took a Thornton feed and missed on his first attempt, but put back the miss forcing the Hokies to take a timeout at the 3 minute mark and Ohio State leading 30-21. Ohio State added to their lead when Devin Royal went off the bounce and dunked and after a Hokie miss, Gayle got to the rim and scored. Virginia Tech hit a three to stem the momentum, and after a Buckeye miss, another Hokie bucket forced Jake Diebler to take a timeout with 39 seconds left in the half with Ohio State leading 34-26. A pair of Gayle free throws stopped the 5-0 Hokie run and completed the first half scoring as Ohio State took a 36-26 lead into the locker room. Ohio State rebounded from a tough start shooting to hit on 47% of their attempts, including 3 of 9 from deep, while holding the Hokies to 37%. Ohio State limited Virginia Tech to just 1 offensive rebound to take the first half rebounding edge 20-17.  Roddy Gayle led Ohio State with a game high 9 first half points, while Hunter Cattoor led Virginia Tech with 7. 

Virginia Tech kicked off the second half scoring with an easy two at the rim, but Ohio State answered with the next 4. Thornton lobbed to Okpara behind the defense where Okpara gathered and went up and flushed it home. After a short jumper in the lane by Thornton put the Buckeyes up 12, the Hokies scored the next four before an Okpara block created a transition opportunity for Ohio State where Thornton lobbed to Okpara running the floor for a flush and at the first media timeout of the second half, Ohio State led 42-32.  Out of the timeout, Ohio State added to the lead when Thornton scored through contact in the lane and buried the free throw to complete the old-fashioned three point play. After a VT triple cut the lead back to 10 and with both offenses struggling to get anything to go, a media timeout was called at the 13:52 mark and Ohio State leading 45-35. Out of the timeout, the Hokies split a pair of free throws, but a Royal offensive rebound led to Thornton scoring through contact and the ensuing free throw completed the three point play and put the Buckeyes up 12. The Hokies hit a pair of freebies to cut into the lead but two Battle free throws answered and held the lead at 12. An out of control sequence by both teams led to an easy two for Virginia Tech, but two more Battle free throws answered. A Tech three cut into the lead and with 10:52 to play Ohio State led 52-43. Out of the timeout, Key hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead but an old-fashioned three point play on the other end cut the lead back to 8. Two more Hokie free throws got VT a little closer before a Bonner corner three ended a near 4 minute field goal drought for the Buckeyes and stopped the 5-0 Hokie run. Another VT bucket at the rim was answered by a pair of Bonner free throws, but 5 more by the Hokies cut the lead to 4. Two more Battle free throws extended the OSU lead and with 7:55 to play and a media timeout being taken, Ohio State led 61-55. Out of the timeout, the Hokies went to the line and split the pair and on the other end Battle got to the stripe and hit both of his. After VT hit a jumper, Okpara hit a jump hook in the lane to answer. The Hokies cut the lead to just 4, hitting 3 of 4 free throws, before Battle hit a pair to put the Buckeyes back up 6. An old-fashioned three point play on the other end cut the Buckeye lead to 3 and after a Hokie turnover, the final media timeout of the game was called with Ohio State clinging to a 67-64 lead. Battle got back to the stripe and drilled two to increase the Buckeye lead and after a Hokie miss, Gayle found Okpara behind the defense for a dunk, Ohio State’s first field goal in over 4 minutes. The lead increased when Okpara split a pair of free throws and a poor foul call on the other end led to two free throws by VT. Ohio State answered when Gayle got to the rim for a deuce and Jake Diebler took a timeout with 1:07 to play and Ohio State leading 74-66. A quick bucket for VT cut the lead to 6 and the Hokies called a timeout with 1 minute remaining. Royal got to the stripe and split the pair and a Bonner steal and breakout forced the Hokies to foul where Bonner drilled the pair to increase the lead to 9. The Hokies quickly got to the rim for a score and a timeout with 35 seconds to play with Ohio State leading 77-70. 2 more Battle free throws was followed by a Tech triple and the Hokies took their final timeout with 20.5 seconds left and the Buckeyes leading by 6. A foul put Battle back on the line where he hit two more and that would be the final score of the game as Ohio State advanced. 

Ohio State didn’t play a necessarily perfect game, uncharacteristically missing a lot of open looks, but this time of year, it’s about survive and advance and the Buckeyes did just that. They shot the free throws at a high rate, and primarily because they got the right guy there, as Jamison Battle, who was struggling shooting the basketball from the field, found a way to adjust and get to the line where he buried 17 of 18 and the Buckeyes as a team made 29 of 32 which was key in fighting off the Hokie second half surge. Ohio State’s half court defense continued to stay highly connected on their rotations, forcing Virginia Tech on most occasions to take contested shots and controlled the defensive glass for much of the night. The Buckeyes get to keep playing and not many programs can say that this time of year. They are clearly bumped and bruised with both Gayle and Thornton having to leave for periods of this game with various injuries, but they will have a few days to get as healthy as they can to get ready to play another competitive opponent on Tuesday night for an opportunity to get to the NIT Final Four in Indianapolis.

The Buckeyes tip it up again next week, playing the winner of Wake Forest and Georgia. If Wake Forest wins, Ohio State will travel to their place, but if Georgia wins, Ohio State will host the Bulldogs. The game will take place on Tuesday evening at 7PM, airing on ESPN.

-Jason Harris

Photo by Josh Watson

Josh and Luke Watson on the scoreboard