Florida-Ohio St – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Ohio State is no longer Gator bait.
It’s a long way from making up for all the grief that Florida has dished out to Ohio State over the last year, but the Buckeyes got a tiny measure of revenge Saturday with a 62-49 victory over the Gators.
It was a rematch of the schools in last year’s national championship games in basketball and football. The Gators won those matchups handily.
Kosta Koufos led the Buckeyes (8-3) with 17 points, while Jamar Butler, the only remaining starter from either team from last April’s basketball title game, added 13. David Lighty had 11 for Ohio State, which won its fourth straight game and seems to be gaining much-needed confidence as it draws closer to its Big Ten opener on Jan. 3 at Illinois.
Jai Lucas was the only Florida player in double figures with 11 points. The Gators (11-2) were facing perhaps their toughest test of the season. They had yet to leave the state of Florida and had played most of their games before raucous, partisan crowds.
Ohio State figured it owed Florida. After all, the Gators didn’t just beat the Buckeyes twice last year on the court – 86-60 in Gainesville in the regular season and 84-75 in the national title game in Atlanta – but also put a 41-14 beatdown on the football team in last January’s national championship game in Glendale, Ariz.
Florida came in averaging 83 points but never came close to getting untracked offensively as Ohio State’s defense set the tempo throughout.
The Buckeyes took the lead for good on Koufos’ driving layup with 6:59 left in the opening half and never looked back. They led 32-22 at halftime and their advantage never fell below double digits in the second half. They led by as many as 18 points and then coasted to the finish.
The place was primed for some payback, with a capacity crowd lustily booing the Gators at every opportunity. Several fans in the Ohio State student section wore crude, self-scrawled T-shirts with obscenities directed at Florida. The crowd waved red glow sticks when the lights were turned down for the introduction of the starting lineups, and several fans were less that welcoming when coach Billy Donovan strode onto the court before the game.
The teams were mere shadows of those that squared off in the finals last April 2 in the Georgia Dome. The teams had eight players taken in the NBA draft, including five of the top 10 picks.
