Ohio State Outguns North Carolina State, 64-50 – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 27, 2001
Box Score| Quotes| Notes
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Brent Darby scored 22 points and Brian Brown 18 as Ohio State used a late 12-2 run to beat North Carolina State 64-50 on Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The Buckeyes (3-0) led 43-40 with 10:32 remaining after two foul shots by the Wolfpack’s Julius Hodge.
Over the next 8:40, however, the Wolfpack (5-1) hit just 1-of-15 shots from the field with five turnovers.
North Carolina State ended up hitting just 27.3 percent (15 of 55) of its shots from the field. The Wolfpack came in shooting 49.8 percent from the field while winning by an average margin of 23.4 points a game.
Ohio State was making its first appearance in the third year of matchups between two of the big-name conferences. The Buckeyes had declined to be a part of the series because coach Jim O’Brien feared being left out with an 8-22 record his first season in Columbus.
Will Dudley added 12 points. Zach Williams and Boban Savovic each had eight rebounds for Ohio State.
Anthony Grundy and Hodge each scored 13 points for North Carolina State.
After three ties and two lead changes, Ohio State led 26-24 at the half.
The Buckeyes went on a 9-2 run to take a 37-30 lead. Brown, playing in his 100th game, started it with a three-point play, the ball bouncing four times softly on the rim before finally dropping in for the field goal. Darby then scored on a fastbreak layup. After Marcus Melvin hit a rebound follow for the Wolfpack, Darby scored inside in traffic and Dudley dunked off a Darby assist.
Ohio State led 43-40 after Hodge hit a pair of foul shots with 10:32 left, but the Buckeyes slowly pulled away again.
Dudley dunked again, this time off a backdoor assist from Savovic, and then Dudley hit two free throws to push the lead to 47-40.
Grundy countered with a shot inside for the Wolfpack. After an Ohio State turnover, the Wolfpack had four shots on one trip down floor but the sequence ended with Brown hitting a finger-roll at the other end.
While North Carolina State remained stuck in an offensive rut – frequently missing layups or follows within a few feet of the basket – the Buckeyes made it 51-42 with 4:40 remaining on Dudley’s power move inside.
Darby and Brown then scored on layups to make it 55-42 with 2:12 remaining. The Wolfpack ended a 5-minute drought on Josh Powell’s foul shot with 1:52 remaining.
North Carolina State was making its first road trip of the season after opening with five wins at home. The Wolfpack was 2-7 on the road a year ago.
Averaging 19 assists a game coming in, the Wolfpack totaled just eight assists.
Ohio State hit 69 percent of its shots from the field in the second half (11 of 16) to finish at 48.7 percent.
