Buckeyes shut down Hoosiers

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At half-time of the Ohio State-IU game Saturday night the national championship Ohio State football team took center stage while the 19,200 fans in attendance showed their appreciation with a loud standing ovation.\nThose cheers would carry over into the second half of the basketball game as Ohio State (8-5, 1-1 Big Ten) upset the No.15 Hoosiers (11-3, 1-1 Big Ten) with an 81-69 victory.\nOhio State coach Jim O'Brien went with a big starting lineup that included junior forwards Zach Williams and Shun Jenkins and junior center Velimir Radinovich, and all three of which were very effective in the frontcourt.\n"We were playing with three big guys against their three guards," O'Brien said. "We played zone defense, which was risky. We had our three big guys hitting the glass. Shun Jenkins was great. Zach and Vel came up huge on the glass."\nJenkins, whose best offensive effort had been seven points before Saturday's game, scored 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds against the Hoosiers. Williams finished the game with 13 points and seven boards while Radinovic contributed eight points and six rebounds. Overall, Ohio State out-rebounded IU 41-32.\n"(Jenkins) just overpowered our guys," Davis said. "He was so physical. He'd miss and he'd go back and get it and put it back in. We had no answer for him but that wasn't the problem. I think Darby's 18 points in the first half just put us in a really bad situation. He scored 18 points and the rest of the guys … didn't have a lot of points in the half. It was Darby."\nDarby scored 28 points on seven of 12 overall shooting; knocked down five of seven from the three- point line; hit nine of 10 free throws, and grabbed seven boards. \nIU endured one of its worst shooting nights of the season and struggled to find an answer to Ohio State's aggressive play. They shot an abysmal nine of 34 from the three-point line, good for 26.5 percent, and shot 38.1 percent overall, while the Buckeyes hit an even 50 percent from the field and nailed six of 10 three pointers.\nThe Hoosier's offensive woes sent them into the locker room at halftime down 35-25.\n"It was an off-shooting night," said freshman guard Bracey Wright, who had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Hoosiers. "We talked about that coming back from halftime. Shots were there. They just weren't falling and some nights you're going to have that."\nAfter the Ohio State football team presented the National Championship trophy to University President Karen Holbrook, the second half got underway.\nOhio State went on a 13-5 run in the first five minutes of the second period, pushing the lead to 48-30. Jenkins had eight points over that stretch, while Williams accounted for the other five.\nThe Buckeyes continued to dominate the game until the Hoosiers put together a late run of their own that began when forward Jeff Newton, who had 16 points in the game, hit a three from the top of the key with 3:17 remaining. The shot brought the Hoosiers within 11, at 64-53. \nFollowing a pair of free throws by Williams, point guard Tom Coverdale, who had 18 points and six assists on the night, brought the ball down the court and promptly sunk another three to bring the Hoosiers within 10.\nWilliams then split another pair of free throws before Coverdale swished another three to make the score 67-59 with 2:46 remaining in the game. \nBut it was as close as the Hoosiers could get. \nJenkins hit a layup on the following possession to put the Buckeyes back up by 10 and they closed the game out by hitting 12 of 14 free throws in the final two minutes.\nNo Hoosier sharp-shooter suffered more mightily on Saturday than Kyle Hornsby, who was 0-8 from the three-point line and 0-9 overall. But he said IU just needs to play more aggressively.\n"It's just rebounding, block your man out," Hornsby said. "They're big and they're going to push you. It just happens, it's Big Ten basketball. We've got to be able to hold our ground against guys like that and we didn't tonight."\nAlthough the Buckeyes were without the services of two injured starters, their production did not suffer. Sophomore point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham was out with a swollen left knee and sophomore forward Terrence Dials did not play due to a stress fracture in his back.