Men’s Hoops Falls At The Buzzer To Illinois, 80-77 – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2000
Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, Ill (AP) – Freshman Frank Williams hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer Thursday night and No. 19 Illinois survived a frantic comeback by No. 13 Ohio State, beating the Buckeyes 80-77 in the Big Ten opener for both schools.
Ohio State, trailing most of the game and down 10 points in the second half, tied the game with five seconds left on a tip-in by Ken Johnson.
Williams took the inbounds pass, drove to the middle and put up his 3-pointer from above the key. It swished through just as the buzzer sounded, setting off a wild celebration at midcourt.
Illinois (9-3) got 20 points from Cory Bradford, 17 from Cleotis Brown and 13 from Williams.
George Reese scored a career-high 24 points, including 18 in the second half, for Ohio State (8-3), while Scoonie Penn had 16 and Michael Redd 15.
The Buckeyes were hurt by 12 missed free throws in their second loss this season on a shot at the buzzer. That is how they lost to Notre Dame in the season opener.
Reese tipped in a missed free throw by Johnson to bring the Buckeyes within 77-75 with 1:23 left.
Illinois missed a shot and Ohio State rebounded, but the Buckeyes lost possession with 50 seconds remaining. Marcus Griffin then fumbled Bradford’s pass under the basket with 22 seconds to go and Ohio State had a final chance.
The Buckeyes took a timeout with 19 seconds left and Johnson tipped in Reese’s miss for the final tie.
The Buckeyes were able to stay in the game behind the second half play of Reese. Redd’s dunk, his 3-pointer from the baseline and a follow shot by Brian Brown cut the Illini lead to two with 8:05 left. But Bradford connected on his fourth 3-pointer to make it 66-61, made a cross-court pass to Brown for another 3-pointer and then hit two free throws and the lead was back to 10 with 6:44 to go.
Reese then scored seven straight points and Ohio State’s final run cut it to 74-70 with 3:18 left.
Bradford’s third 3-pointer of the first half and five straight points from Brown helped the Illini build a 12-point lead. Ohio State cut it to 42-35 at halftime when Reese hit one basket and then seconds later got free for a dunk just before the buzzer.
