Northwestern
Ohio St
Men's Basketball Can't Overcome Ohio State, 69-57
2/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Will Dudley scored 14 points and teammate Ken Johnson became the Big Ten's all-time leading shotblocker as Ohio State turned a close game into a 69-57 win Saturday night at NU's Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Five players scored in double figures for Ohio State (19-9, 10-5 Big Ten), which has won six of seven. Northwestern fell for the first time in the last three games at home, but finished the 2000-01 campaign with an 8-7 record at Welsh-Ryan.
Johnson blocked six shots and scored 11, while Brent Darby scored 13 for the Buckeyes.
For Northwestern (10-18, 2-13), Tavaras Hardy scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down six boards, while Winston Blake added 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Ben Johnson chipped in 10 points. Collier Drayton rounded out a solid game with eight points, six assists and five steals.
With 12:32 left in the first half, Hardy drove the lane and put up a shot, but Johnson swatted it away, giving the OSU center his 429th career block, tops in league history. He ended the game with six rejections to give him 434 for his career. The initial rejection put Johnson past Penn State's Calvin Booth and placed Johnson alone at No. 5 in the NCAA career blocks.
The game was tight until the late going. Ohio State was up 31-28 at the break but turned over the ball on five of its first seven possessions of second half. Northwestern kept it close as Johnson got into foul trouble and sat on the bench.
Drayton had a chance to tie the game at 33 with a bucket and foul with 14 minutes left, but missed the free throw. After sitting for four minutes, Johnson returned and immediately made an impact, blocking another shot at one end and making a layup on the other. Boban Savovic then drilled a pair of 3-pointers and the Buckeyes went on a 13-2 run to lead 45-34.
Johnson sat down again after his fourth foul with 5:22 left, and Hardy hit the first 3-pointer of his career to conclude a 12-4 Wildcat run and bring the Wildcats within 50-46. The teams continued trading points after that, until the Wildcats inched within three (58-55) on a Drayton layup with 2:39 left.
Ohio State took over from there, though. Brian Brown hit a pair of free throws with 2:26 left to up the lead to five, and forty seconds later Sean Connolly drained another pair. That set the tone for the final few minutes, as the Buckeyes hit eight straight freebies and 11 straight points before Drayton hit a layup as time expired.
Northwestern will close out the regular season Wednesday, playing at Michigan. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern (7 Central).
