Buckeyes Men’s Hoops Defeats UMass 54-51 – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2000
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By RUSTY MILLER
%^$AP Sports Writer%^$
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ken Johnson scored 16 points and blocked nine shots%^$but Ohio State needed Brent Darby’s two clinching free throws with less than a%^$second left to beat Massachusetts 54-51 on Sunday.%^$
Ohio State (5-2) won its third in a row while Massachusetts (1-5) lost its%^$fifth consecutive game.%^$
The Buckeyes led by as many as 13 points in the first half and were on top%^$by eight with just over 3 minutes remaining.%^$
But 3-point field goals by Winston Smith and Monty Mack – who led the%^$Minutemen with 22 points – cut the lead to 50-47 with 1:30 remaining.%^$
Zach Williams hit a drive in traffic to put Ohio State ahead by five before%^$Kitwana Rhymer made a foul shot with 9.1 seconds remaining to make it 52-48.%^$
After Rhymer missed the second shot, Ohio State’s Boban Savovic tipped the%^$ball out to Shannon Crooks, who missed a 3-pointer. On the play, Massachusetts’%^$Micah Brand hung on the rim and was assessed an indirect technical, resulting%^$in one foul shot for the Buckeyes before UMass was given the ball out of%^$bounds.%^$
Brian Brown missed the technical shot with 4.2 seconds. UMass then inbounded%^$under its own basket and Crooks hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to cut it%^$to 52-51 with 1.9 seconds remaining.%^$
Darby was fouled on the inbounds play and hit both shots. A long UMass heave%^$came up short after the buzzer.%^$
UMass stayed in the game despite hitting just 15-of-59 shots from the field%^$(25 percent). Johnson had more blocks than the Minutemen had field goals until%^$there was less than 10 minutes remaining.%^$
The Buckeyes scored the first eight points and never trailed. Johnson had%^$three blocks before the Minutemen got on the board on Rhymer’s inside shot at%^$the 15:02 mark of the first half.%^$
By halftime, with Ohio State on top 26-13, Johnson had seven blocked shots%^$and Massachusetts was 5-for-30 from the field (16.7 percent).%^$
Johnson added two more blocks at critical points of the second half. It%^$wasn’t until just 9:38 remained when the Minutemen finally had more field goals%^$(10 of 49) than Johnson had blocks.%^$
Still, the Minutemen wouldn’t go away.%^$
They hit 15-of-18 free throws, making seven in a row before Rhymer’s miss in%^$the final seconds.
