Ohio State Topples No. 14 Iowa, 69-68 – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/7/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2001%^$
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By GREG SMITH
%^$Associated Press Writer
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien kept adjusting his%^$offense, but in the end it was mostly guards Brian Brown and Brent Darby%^$causing too much chaos for No. 14 Iowa.%^$
Brown scored 20 points and hit all four of his 3-point attempts and Darby%^$added 15 points as Ohio State defeated the Hawkeyes 69-68 on Wednesday night.%^$
“We keep tweaking our offense. Tonight, we got a lot of looks from our%^$perimeter guys,” O’Brien said. “We went back to getting some fade screens for%^$our guards and it was big that our guys made the shots.”%^$
Iowa coach Steve Alford said Brown and Darby couldn’t be stopped.%^$
“I thought that our guards were poor on defense all night. I think that is%^$about as bad as we have been in the backcourt, defensively,” he said. “I%^$thought that in the second half, Ohio State showed how badly they wanted to win%^$this game.”%^$
Sean Connolly scored 11 points and Ken Johnson added 10 points, nine%^$rebounds and six blocked shots for Ohio State (15-8, 6-5 Big Ten), which has%^$won three of four.%^$
“Kevin Johnson brings everything to this team,” Brown said. “He’s our%^$go-to guy. He’s definitely the key to our defense.”%^$
Iowa (17-5, 6-3), playing its first game since learning that leading scorer%^$Luke Recker might be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, got a%^$season-high 27 points from Dean Oliver and 14 points and 11 rebounds from%^$Reggie Evans.%^$
“We are not as tough without Luke Recker,” Alford said. “Our players have%^$to handle situations better and I have to coach better. I thought I got%^$out-coached during the last five minutes of the game and that is something that%^$I need to look at.”%^$
Clutch shooting by Brown, who was 7-of-12 from the field, and Darby as well%^$as timely jump hook shots by Johnson helped the Buckeyes overcome a 55-46%^$deficit with 9:24 remaining.%^$
Iowa still had a chance to win in the final 21.6 seconds, but Ryan Hogan’s%^$off-balance, one-handed leaner missed with 4.3 seconds to play to preserve%^$OSU’s 68-65 lead. Darby was fouled on the rebound and sank one of two free%^$throws before Oliver’s 40-foot heave swished through at the buzzer.%^$
Brown, Darby and Johnson combined to score 19 of Ohio State’s final 23%^$points. Johnson, who leads the Big Ten in blocked shots, has 420 in his career%^$and needs nine more to break the conference record set by Penn State’s Calvin%^$Booth (1995-99).%^$
Hogan, who had scored 15, six and 12 points while starting three previous%^$times in place of Recker, finished with just four points. He shot 2-for-9 from%^$the field and missed both free-throw attempts with 4:44 to play that would have%^$extended Iowa’s 60-58 lead.%^$
Instead, Brown sank two free throws to tie it, and Darby hit one of two from%^$the line to give OSU a 61-60 lead it never gave up in the final 3:52.%^$
A 3-pointer by Oliver with 11 seconds left before halftime gave the Hawkeyes%^$a 32-28 lead despite shooting only 37.1 percent.%^$
The Buckeyes didn’t fare much better, hitting just 11 of 28 shots for 39.3%^$percent as they fell behind 21-12 after Cortney Scott’s basket capped a 13-2%^$Iowa run at the 8:19 mark.%^$
A pair of 3-pointers by Darby and Sean Connolly helped spark a 10-4 spurt to%^$pull the Buckeyes back to 25-22, but Evans hit a free throw and Oliver followed%^$with a basket to push Iowa’s lead to seven.%^$
Dudley answered with a basket and Velimir Radinovic sank two free throws%^$with 1:28 left in the half that made it 29-26 before Oliver’s 3-pointer.
