Men’s Basketball Remains Perfect With 78-51 Victory – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/24/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
November 24, 1998
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Jon Sanderson scored 18 points and Michael Redd added 17 as Ohio State moved to 6-0 for the first time in seven years with a 78-51 victory over Tennessee Tech Tuesday night.
Ohio State remained perfect in Value City Arena, where the Buckeyes have played all their games. The last time Ohio State won its first six games was 1991-92, when the Buckeyes started 17-0 and captured an outright Big Ten title.
It was Ohio State’s second straight mismatch, following an 86-45 victory Sunday over Army that was also out of reach not long after the opening tip.
The biggest ovation of the night from the announced crowd of 16,505 took place at halftime when the Big Ten co-championship trophy was presented to Ohio State football coach John Cooper and his staff.
The Buckeyes were playing their sixth game in 12 days. They play only twice in the next 19 days, including their first road game Saturday at Vanderbilt.
Scoonie Penn added 13 points for Ohio State.
Josh Heard had 16 points and Wesley Whitehorn 10 for Tennessee Tech (1-2). The Golden Eagles opened with a last-second win against Belmont, but have lost to Alabama and Ohio State by a total of 53 points.
Ohio State has never lost in four games against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference, while Tech dropped to 1-10 against Big Ten opponents.
The Golden Eagles hung around for the first five minutes, but then Ohio State put together a 13-0 blitz to build a 17-point lead. Tech never got closer than 13 points again.
After Tech pulled to 13-9 on Heard’s 3-pointer at the 15:44 mark, Ken Johnson got things going for Ohio State with a 12-foot hook shot.
The Golden Eagles had turnovers on their next six possessions – they totaled 17 in the first half alone and finished with 25.
After Jason Singleton dunked off an alley-oop pass from Penn, Redd twice stole the ball off the press and converted with a spin-move layup and a breakaway dunk. George Reese scored on a rebound follow before Redd closed the streak by hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing.
The Buckeyes led 46-25 at halftime and by as many as 31 points in the second half. Tech hit just 7-of-24 shots from the field in the second half (29 percent) to finish at 37 percent. Ohio State was 30-of-58 for 52 percent.
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
