Men’s Basketball Defeats Red Storm – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/13/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2000
Box Score| Quotes| Notes
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Boban Savovic fueled a first-half spurt and Brian Brown scored 18 points as Ohio State beat St. John’s 71-58 on Wednesday night.
The victory was Ohio State’s third in a row over the Red Storm in high-profile games each of the last three seasons. The Buckeyes beat St. John’s to earn a berth in the Final Four two years ago and edged the Red Storm at Madison Square Garden last season.
Brown, a Brooklyn native, hit 7-of-10 shots from the field and also had four assists.
Savovic added 15 points and Ken Johnson had 11 points and nine rebounds for Ohio State (6-2), which won its fourth game in a row.
Ohio State shot 57 percent from the field to 42 percent for St. John’s.
Kyle Cuffe and Omar Cook each scored 12 points and Willie Shaw had 11 for St. John’s (4-4).
Anthony Glover, the Red Storm’s leading scorer at 19 points a game, hit just 3-of-7 shots from the field and finished with six points, three rebounds and no assists in 32 minutes.
Ohio State led 40-25 at the half, thanks to a 23-8 surge. The Buckeyes hit 14 of their first 18 shots from the field while the Red Storm was 7-of-17 with seven turnovers over the same 9-minute span.
Savovic scored all 11 of his first-half points during the run.
With the Buckeyes on top 16-11, Savovic scored the next eight Ohio State points on a pair of 3-pointers and a bucket inside off an inbounds pass. Savovic’s 3-pointer at the 7:18 mark gave the Buckeyes a 31-15 lead. St. John’s drew as close as 35-25 before Sean Connolly hit a 3-pointer at the 1-minute mark and Brian Brown closed the scoring in the half on a bank shot off a fastbreak.
Ohio State hit 68 percent of its shots in the first half (17 of 25).
The Red Storm never got closer than nine points in the second half.
Cuffe’s power move inside with 3 minutes left cut the gap to 65-56, but Brown hit a 15-foot jumper seconds later.
St. John’s hit its season average by forcing 22 turnovers.
