Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
Dec. 20, 2006
Athletes of the Week
Greg Oden averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds in a pair of men’sbasketball victories last week. The 7-foot freshman center has made25 of 34 shots from the field in four games as a Buckeye andaverages 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while blocking 16 shots (4.0bpg.) to date. He knocked down 14 of 22 shots last week in the twowins and had a streak of 17-consecuitve made field goals snappedwhen he missed his final shot of the game against Cincinnati in theWooden Tradition in Indianapolis. Women’s basketball sophomore StarAllen dished out a career-high seven assists, with six of thosecoming in the first half. The Columbus native finished second inOSU scoring with 12 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.In addition, Allen boosted the Buckeyes by posting double digits(12 points) in the win against Alabama A&M Saturday.
Athletics Good Stuff
The men’s basketball team posted two victories in the last weekto improve to 10-1 on the season heading into a showdown with No.4/5 Florida Saturday in Gainesville (4 p.m./CBS/WBNS 10 TV). TheNo. 3-ranked Buckeyes knocked off Cincinnati last Saturday at theWooden Tradition in Indianapolis by the score of 72-50. TheBuckeyes led 42-14 at the half and cruised the rest of the way totake the all-time series lead against the Bearcats with a 5-4record. Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. returned to their hometownfor the event. Oden posted a double double with 14 points and 11rebounds while Conley flirted with a triple double with 8 points, 8rebounds and seven assists.
The freshman pair teamed with classmate Daequan Cook to lead Ohio State to a 75-56 win over Iowa State Tuesday in Columbus. A sellout crowd of 18,905 looked on as Cook tallied a team-high 21 points while Oden (18 pts.) and Conley (15) and senior Ivan Harris (10) reached double figures offensively as well.
The women’s basketball team shot better than 66 percent fromthe floor in both victories over Alabama A&M (98-55) Saturdayand Howard (97-52) Sunday. OSU combined to bury 14-of-17 3-pointfield goal tries and dished out 61 assists in the two contests. TheBuckeyes had five players score in double figures against A&Mand upped that number to six vs. Howard. Defensively, Ohio Stateforced 53 turnovers and turned the miscues into 56 points over theweekend set.
Individually, Brandie Hoskins led all scorers with 18 points vs. A&M, while Jessica Davenport contributed 16 points in each win. Maria Moeller and Marscilla Packer each set career-highs with nine and seven assists, respectively vs. A&M and Star Allen notched an assist career-high of seven vs. Howard. For the two games, the Ohio State starting five of Allen, Davenport, Hoskins, Moeller and Packer combined to convert 47-of-67 FG and hand out 40 assists. Packer made all six of her 3-point FG attempts.
Ohio State (9-1) faces its second Top 10 opponent of the season when it travels to No. 3/3 Oklahoma (9-0) at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday in Norman, Okla. ESPN2 will broadcast the game live.
Men’s volleyball lost 3-1 matches to UC Irvine last weekend.The Anteaters are the preseason favorite to win the MountainPacific Sports Federation. In Saturday’s match, Dan Meske scored amatch-high 17.5 points with Robbie Klein adding 15 in the 30-24,30-21, 28-30, 30-23 loss. Sam Stevens had a match-high 19.5 pointsin Sunday’s 30-22, 30-26, 26-30, 30-23 loss with Klein adding 15points. Ohio State will play in a four-day Canadian tournament inClearwater, Fla., Dec. 28-31 before beginning the regular seasonJan. 5 at home against MSOE. Women’s volleyball received postseason honors for two players with senior setter Marisa Main beingnamed a second team All-American and junior middle block DanielleMeyer named to the third team by the American Volleyball CoachesAssociation. Third-ranked wrestler Mike Pucillo improved to 8-0 onthe season against Chattanooga’s Josh Edmondson after recording histhird major decision on the year Dec. 17 in St. John Arena. Pucillonotched a 12-3 decision in a match where he never trailed. Pucillobecomes the first Buckeye since J.D. Bergman during the 2004-05season to start the season with an 8-0 record. Bergman and ChrisVondruska also garnered wins, with the sixth-ranked Bergman pinningNick Lorenzano in 1:24 and No. 18 Vondruska defeating Seth Garvin,8-3.
Ohio State will compete in the Southern Scuffle Dec. 29-30 in Greensboro, N.C., while other members will compete in the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill.
Members of the men’s gymnastics team, ranked third in preseasonnational poll, competed at the Scarlet and Gray IntrasquadExhibition Dec. 15 at St. John Arena. Team Gray broke TeamScarlet’s winning streak by capturing its first win in three years,100.8-96.4. Juniors David Ortiz and Pedro Pineda notedcompetition-high scores for Team Gray with 9.0 scores on high barand rings, respectively. Pejman Ebrahimi scored a team high 8.7 onfloor for Scarlet.
Head coach Miles Avery and assistant coach Dmitri Bilozertchev led six Buckeyes at the 2006 Michael Voronin Cup Dec. 15-17. The squad of seniors Willie Ito, Kristopher Kline, Grant Osborne and Nicholaus Searcy, as well as, juniors DJ Bucher and Jimmy Wickham competed at the international invitation. Preseason activities wrap up with the Varsity Exhibition Jan. 6.
The women’s gymnastics team hosted its final exhibition meetlast Friday with the Scarlet and Gray Intrasquad meet. JuniorJessica Rosette won bars and tied for first on floor as theBuckeyes competed for the last time before hosting Ball State at 7p.m. Jan. 13 in St. John Arena in their season opener. Rosette wonbars with a 9.65 and her 9.60 on floor tied junior MaalikaMoore-Thomas for first place on that event.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Dec. 20 – Dec. 29
Wednesday, Dec. 20
Women’s Basketball at Oklahoma, 7 p.m.
Norman, Okla.
Saturday, Dec. 23
Men’s Basketball at Florida, 4 p.m.
Gainesville, Fla.
Thursday, Dec. 28
Men’s Volleyball at CI South Invite, 5 p.m.
Clearwater, Fla.
Wrestling at Midlands, All Day
Evanston, Ill.
Friday, Dec. 29
Men’s Volleyball at CI South Invite, 5 p.m.
Clearwater, Fla.
Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Minn-Duluth, 8:05 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Nationwide Arena
Wrestling at South Scuffle, All Day
Greensboro, N.C.
