Fifth-year forward Jamison Battle (10) gets in a low defensive stance against Cornell. Ohio State won 88-83 at the Schottenstein Center Tuesday to advance to the second round of the NIT Tournament. Credit: Caleb Blake
Postseason basketball is unpredictable.
Cornell gave a good fight, but the Buckeyes will advance.
The No. 2-seeded Ohio State men’s basketball team (21-13, 9-11 Big Ten) downed the No. 7-seeded Cornell Big Red (22-8, 11-3 Ivy League) Tuesday night in an offensive barrage 88-83 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament at Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.
“[I was] proud of how we were able to get a win,” head coach Jake Diebler said. “I think that that first game is so tough.”
Fifth-year Jamison Battle and sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. led the Buckeyes in scoring with 17 apiece.
The Big Red started off strong and gave the Buckeyes problems early.
Cornell sophomore forward AK Okereke dashed right to the hoop with sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. in man-to-man coverage for an easy layup, which pushed the Big Red’s run to 8-0 with 15:55 left in the first half.
The Buckeyes, on the contrary, started a cold 3-of-16 from the field, but sophomore center Felix Okpara reeled in five early offensive rebounds in the game’s first 4:23.
“Coming into the game, we knew that we needed to kind of set the tone on the offensive glass,” Gayle said.
Let the runs begin.
With seven minutes remaining in the first half, Ohio State sophomore guard Bruce Thornton drilled the second of back-to-back 3-pointers, giving the Buckeyes a 10-0 run and their first lead of the game 26-24.
The lead didn’t last long — no lead lasted long. The two teams battled back and forth creating 17 lead changes on the night.
Just 22 seconds after Ohio State’s first lead, Cornell freshman guard Jake Fiegen splashed home a contested 3-pointer of his own from the top of the key, putting the Big Red back on top. That was the beginning of what would be a 9-0 Cornell run, putting through its next three 3-pointers and taking back a 33-26 lead.
Buckeye freshman forward Devin Royal pulled up from the right wing beyond the arc and made a three of his own with 4:28 before halftime, thwarting the Big Red’s run.
Ohio State then used Royal’s three to go on a 14-3 run, capped off by a left-wing three by Battle with 1:55 to go in the half.
The Buckeyes took a 44-38 lead into the break and were led by Battle and Gayle, who had 10 points each.
Ohio State maintained steam for the first six minutes of the second half. With 13:56 left in the game, the Big Red took a 63-62 lead on the heels of senior guard Isaiah Gray’s right-handed poster slam over Okpara.
In a back-and-forth affair, Gayle connected on a left-wing triple, which gave Ohio State a mere 67-66 lead with 7:34 remaining.
The Buckeyes pushed their scoring run to seven unanswered off an alley-oop from Battle to Okpara down low for a two-handed dunk, putting Ohio State up 71-66.
Despite being heavily contested by Royal, Cornell junior guard Nazir Williams drilled a corner three, knotting the game up at 79 with just under two minutes to go.
Following a made layup by Gray, fifth-year guard Dale Bonner drove down the lane and kicked it out to an open Battle, who connected on a left-corner 3-pointer to put the Buckeyes up 82-81 with only 43 seconds to play.
“It was just another shot,” Battle said. “Obviously, it was a pretty big shot but it’s satisfying for it to go in.”
A near full-court inbound pass from sophomore guard Evan Mahaffey to Royal, who pump faked and rose up for the open layup, put the Buckeyes up 84-81 with 30 seconds left, seemingly sealing the deal for Ohio State.
Ohio State will take on No. 3-seeded Virginia Tech Saturday at home. Time is to be determined.
