Hoosiers get sweet Buckeye revenge

This is what the IU men's basketball team wanted to happen 10 days ago. \nShutting down the Ohio State leading scorers, taking care of their own basket and getting rebounds was the Hoosiers' intent. Well, two out of three isn't bad.\nIU may have been out-rebounded by the Buckeyes, but they did shut down Ohio State's leading scorers and they did pound the ball inside to pick up their third-straight victory. \nThe No. 14 Hoosiers (14-3, 4-1 Big Ten) got their revenge, beating the Buckeyes (8-8, 1-4), 69-51.\n"We just played them 10 days ago and remember how it felt to lose at their place," freshman guard Marshall Strickland said. "We came with that in our minds, and we wanted to knock them out."\nAll the emotion that built inside the two teams over the past 10 days and during the first half came to a head and exploded in the second half. In between a waterfall of technical fouls, warnings and three players fouling out, the Hoosiers managed to maintain the lead they had built in the first half.\nIt appeared, however, that IU left its intensity in the locker room to start the second half. The Hoosiers allowed the Buckeyes to score on back-to-back possessions, drawing within six.\nBut the Ohio State run was interrupted by a scuffle between senior guard Tom Coverdale and the Buckeyes' Brent Darby. Coverdale got tangled up with Darby, and prior to a timeout, the two had to be separated by teammates and coaches.\n"I thought we had a lot of emotion; there was a lot of bumping and grinding," senior forward Kyle Hornsby said. "It causes a lot of people to get emotional. I got pretty emotional; I wanted to bop a couple of them too."\nThe battle between the two teams continued as senior forward Jeff Newton picked up a technical foul less than five minutes into the second half. Darby shot two free throws to bring the gap to eight, and following two additional foul shots by Ohio State forward Zach Williams, the Buckeyes were within six.\nThe intense exchange of words continued between Coverdale and Darby until just over eight minutes left in the game. Prior to Darby shooting two free throws, the players and coaches received warnings about the situation from the officials.\nBut the fouls kept coming, and for IU, it meant two of their starters sitting out for the last three minutes of the game. Newton, who finished with 12 points, received his last foul after being called for hooking under the IU basket with just over six minutes left, and not long after, junior center George Leach, who totaled 11 points for the night, joined Newton following a defensive foul. Ohio State center Velimir Radinovic was already out with five.\n"(Sean) Kline came in and did a great job, and A.J. (Moye) is playing well in the post," Hornsby said. "We just kept blocking out. I think overall I thought our guards did a good job of rebounding."\nThe Hoosiers let the Buckeyes draw within six in the second half, but behind Strickland, who finished with a team-high of 15, IU pulled away and hung on.\nThe game got off to a sloppy start as both teams picked up a combined 18 turnovers in the first half. The Hoosiers got the first strike after Newton found Leach under the basket less than 20 seconds into the game.\nTurnover fever set in as IU turned the ball over on three straight possessions, with two bad passes and a traveling call. Hornsby broke the streak for the Hoosiers by drilling a jump shot. That kicked off an 11-4 IU scoring run that built the lead to nine with just over 10 minutes left in the game.\nThe Buckeyes closed the gap to five with just over seven minutes left in the first half, but the Hoosiers, who were led by Leach in the first with 10 points and four rebounds, doubled the lead going into the break, and enjoyed a 27-17 cushion.\n"We got embarrassed last game," Moye said. "We had to dig deep and do what we could do. Man, it was fun. I loved every minute of it"