Men’s Basketball Downs Winthrop, 78-54 – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 18, 2001
Box Score| Quotes| Notes
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Brian Brown scored seven of his 15 points during a 15-2 run to end the first half as Ohio State opened its season Sunday with a 78-54 victory over Winthrop.
Boban Savovic added 14 points, Sean Connolly and Brent Darby each had 11 and Will Dudley scored 10 for the Buckeyes, who made 53 percent of their shots from the field.
Ohio State, coming off a 20-11 season and a third-place finish in the Big Ten, returns every starter except for center Ken Johnson, the school’s career leader in blocked shots.
The Buckeyes ran their record to 44-6 in Value City Arena’s three years.
Winthrop, an NCAA qualifier at 18-13 last year as the Big South champion, won its season opener at home on Friday night, beating Division II Lander 60-58 in overtime.
Tyrone Walker scored 16 points and Greg Lewis had 15 for the Eagles, who shot 38 percent (19 of 50) from the field.
With 5:25 left in the first half, Walker hit a 3-pointer to cut Ohio State’s lead to 27-24.
The Buckeyes’ Tim Martin made a foul shot, Dudley – Johnson’s replacement in the middle – scored on one of Savovic’s two assists during the spurt – and Savovic hit a pair of foul shots.
Brown then scored on a layup, hit a jumper, assisted on Connolly’s 3-pointer and made a 3-pointer of his own as Ohio State pulled out to a 42-26 lead at the half.
The Eagles got no closer than 14 points in the second half.
Ohio State, which hit 8-of-14 3-pointers, led by 26 points on five occasions.
Brown also had six assists and three rebounds and did not have a turnover in 33 minutes.
Dudley was 5-of-7 from the field and had three rebounds in his first start.
