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Ohio State Basketball: A look at Buckeyes’ loss and SEC fiasco prior to it

By Charlie Lockhart

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 02: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions during quarterfinals of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 2, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 02: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions during quarterfinals of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 2, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 17: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts as his team plays the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at Breslin Center on February 17, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 17: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts as his team plays the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at Breslin Center on February 17, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

I was looking forward to watching Ohio State face Maryland but I had to wait for an ugly SEC game to end first. Unfortunately, after that fiasco the Buckeyes lost to another ranked team.

The Ohio State Buckeyes fell to the Maryland Terrapins 72-62 yesterday. Unfortunately, TV viewers only were able to watch a little over half the game because a pathetic SEC contest wouldn’t end.

I’m not sure in my half-century of watching college sports I have seen such a combination of poor play on the court, bad officiating and a coaching blunder. Before we get into that SEC fiasco, let’s review the Ohio State game.

I can’t tell you much about the first half as the Buckeyes were down 27-21 when the SEC marathon ended, except that the Terrapins took a 33-28 lead into the break.

In the second half, Maryland stayed in control but Ohio State kept things close until about 16 minutes left, and even closed the gap to 39-36. Then the Terrapins went on an 11-0 run before the Buckeyes came storming back to close the gap to 57-55 on a Justin Ahrens three pointer.

Unfortunately Ahrens committed an ill-advised foul on a three-point shot soon afterwards. Serrel Smith drained the free throws and the Buckeyes never got closer than five points after that.

Leading scorers for Maryland were Anthony Cowen with 19 points, Bruno Fernando and Serrel Smith with 14 apiece and Darryl Morsell 11.

Ohio State was led by Duane Washington who scored 15 points, Andre Wesson chipped in with 13 and Keyshawn Woods 10.

Game stats courtesy of ESPN.com.

Quick takes:

Bruno Fernando and Anthony Cowen are as good as advertised. Fernando is NBA ready right now.

Have you noticed that a lack of production from Kaleb Wesson and / or scoring droughts tend to lead to Ohio State losses? Both were in play yesterday.

It was good to see Justin Ahrens get so much playing time and go 3-5 from behind the arc, and to see Duane Washington be aggressive on the offensive end. I hope coach Chris Holtmann will turn these two freshmen loose the final four games. The Buckeyes need more scoring so what could it hurt?

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