Northwestern
Ohio St
Men's Basketball Falls to Ohio State, 73-56
1/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Winston Blake had a career-high 22 points to lead all scorers, but he received little support and the Northwestern men's basketball team fell to Ohio State, 73-56, at the Value City Center in Columbus.
The game was the Big Ten opener for both teams. Overall, the Wildcats are now 7-6, while OSU improved to 10-3.
Unlike last week's win over nationally-ranked USC, when they never trailed, the Wildcats never led in this contest. Ohio State's Brent Darby -- who ended the game with 21 points -- knocked down a 3-pointer just 18 seconds into the contest and the Buckeyes never looked back.
OSU opened up an eight-point lead after eight minutes, before Northwestern cut it to five on a number of occasions. However, the Buckeyes went on a 10-2 run over the final 5:23 of the half and took a 33-20 lead into the locker room.
Blake (11) and Tavaras Hardy (7) scored 18 of NU's 20 points in the first half, with the only other two coming on a Ben Johnson layup with 8:09 to play.
In the second half, Ohio State used the outside game of Darby with the inside presence of Ken Johnson to pull away. Johnson, who played just five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, asserted himself in the paint with 10 points and five blocked shots in the second. Darby, meanwhile, continued to hit his shots en route to a career-best night.
The lead swelled to 21 at the 15-minute mark, and NU got no closer than 16 the rest of the way.
Northwestern sophomore center Aaron Jennings had 12 points, all in the second half, to establish a season high. Ed McCants, a freshman who hails from nearby Marion, Ohio, gave the hometown fans some thrills with a game-high seven rebounds.
However, NU struggled from the field, shooting just 33.9 percent. That should hardly come as a surprise -- the Wildcats entered the contest last in the Big Ten in field goal percentage, while Ohio State was first in the conference in field goal percentage defense.
Northwestern will be back in action Saturday, hosting Purdue in the Big Ten home opener. Tipoff at Welsh-Ryan is slated for 1 p.m.
