No. 7 Men’s Hoops Topples No. 10 Indiana, 82-71 – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2000%^$
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%^$%^$%^$Box Score|%^$Notes%^$%^$%^$%^$%^$
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By HANK LOWENKRON
%^$AP Sports Writer%^$
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – Michael Redd and the Ohio State Buckeyes muscled%^$their way past the Indiana Hoosiers.%^$
Redd scored a season-high 28 points, including five free throws in the final%^$two minutes, as No. 7 Ohio State held off No. 10 Indiana 82-71 in their%^$foul-plagued Big Ten showdown.%^$
Redd added 10 rebounds. George Reese also had a double-double for Ohio State%^$with 11 points and 10 rebounds.%^$
The 6-foot-6 Redd said he felt confident no matter who Indiana used to%^$defend him..%^$
“That’s the confidence I have,” said Redd, who was 8-for-16 from the field%^$and hit 11-of-15 free throws.%^$
Jeffrey Newton, 6-9, and Dane Fife, 6-4, guarded Redd most of the game.%^$
“Those were great matchups for me. Newton … I can get past him. Fife is%^$too small. I can post him up or shoot over him,” Redd said.%^$
Officials called 58 personals with four Buckeyes and two Indiana players%^$fouling out. The teams combined to shoot 87 free throws and misses proved%^$costly to the Hoosiers, who went into the game leading the Big Ten in free%^$throw accuracy.%^$
Indiana, which was shooting nearly 90 percent, missed 17 of 44 attempts.%^$Kirk Haston, an 80 percent shooter, was 3-for-11.%^$
“We kept attacking. We knew we couldn’t slack off,” Redd said. “In the%^$first half they shot like 30 (26) free throws. In the second half the roles%^$were totally turned around. We were in the bonus for most of the second half,%^$and coach kept telling us to keep attacking, that you will get fouls, get to%^$the rim, and it happened.”%^$
A.J. Guyton led Indiana with 27 points, becoming the fifth player in school%^$history to score 2,000 points. He finished the game with 2,007.%^$
Guyton matched his career high of 11 free throws in 12 attempts. However, he%^$had only one point in the final 13 minutes as fatigue appeared to set in.%^$
“We just played him physical. We shadowed him the whole game and the second%^$half I think it wore him down,” Redd said.%^$
The victory boosted Ohio State (18-5, 9-3 Big Ten) in its bid to end%^$Michigan State’s run for a third consecutive conference championship.%^$
“This is an incredible win for our guys,” said Ohio State coach Jim%^$O’Brien, whose team had lost to Michigan State 83-72 on Tuesday. “We thought%^$we really needed to get something back after a disappointing loss at home. In%^$my mind, I thought this game had a lot of very important implications.”%^$
The Spartans lead second-place Purdue by a half-game and Ohio State took%^$over sole possession of third place, one game behind Michigan State with four%^$to play.%^$
Indiana (18-5, 8-4) dropped into fourth place, two games behind the leader.%^$
“We did a great job of being physical, being aggressive all night long,”%^$Redd said. “I love it when our backs are to the wall. … It brings the best%^$out of you.”%^$
“Ohio State was the best team that we’ve played this year. We played hard,%^$really scrapped and scraped,” Indiana coach Bob Knight said. “The difference,%^$I think from our standpoint is we played a 30 minute game and Ohio State played%^$a 40 minute game. … They really beat us pretty good in the last 10 minutes.”%^$
A 3-pointer by Guyton gave Indiana its biggest lead of the game at 52-45%^$with 13:32 to play. Ohio State charged back to tie it at 53 on a putback off an%^$offensive rebound by Ken Johnson.%^$
Three consecutive 3-pointers by Brent Darby, who made all four of his shots%^$from behind the arc, gave Ohio State a 69-63 lead. The Buckeyes scored their%^$final 11 points on free throws.%^$
Scoonie Penn contributed 15 points to the victory.%^$
Redd had hit a jumper to put the Buckeyes ahead for good at 55-53 and both%^$teams did most of their scoring on free throws in the final 10 minutes.%^$
Indiana overcame an early poor-shooting effort to trail 36-35 at halftime.%^$The Hoosiers hit just one of their first eight shots from the field and the%^$only five of the first 12 free throws.%^$
Ohio State was whistled for a season-high 30 fouls and the 28 fouls by%^$Indiana also was a season-high.%^$
The loss was the first in conference play at home for Indiana, which has%^$lost three straight against the Buckeyes. The victory in Assembly Hall was only%^$the second in nine trips for Ohio State.%^$
