Ohio State defeats Dayton 74-63
Let's hope someone recorded Coach Matta's half time speech
for the Dayton Win!
The Ohio State
Buckeyes went into the locker room at halftime of last night's game behind by a
point to the Dayton Flyers. What came
out to play the second half looked like the Phoenix Suns.
By Bill Smith
The Ohio State Buckeyes went
into the locker room at halftime of last night's game behind by a point to the
Dayton Flyers. What came out to play the
second half looked like the Phoenix Suns.
The Bucks ran, hit 3's, rebounded, moved the ball around, moved without
the ball and rolled to the 74 to 63
win. We have known that Coach Matta
is among the best motivators in the game of college basketball but this was nothing
short of an amazing transformation. The
Bucks came out and rewarded the faithful with a 25 to 10 point run and never
looked back. They out-rebounded Dayton by 10 in the
second half. The Bucks dominated in
every aspect of the game. At one time, OSU
was shooting 70% from the floor in the second half.
The team looked as good as it
has in any time all season. And it was
not a case of playing poor competition. Dayton has had a very
solid season and was at full strength. A
couple of the Flyers had been hurt during a series of losses that was likely
the only reason that Dayton
was not playing in the NCAA tournament.
But on this day, in this place, against this team, that didn't
matter. The only team in Ohio that could have
beaten the Bucks in the second half is the Cavaliers and they play at a
different level.
The crowd
at the Schott sounded like the previous game at St. John's.
It was loud and supportive. The
House shook with thunderous applause to help encourage the Bucks. Let's hope we get that level of support all
next season. And let's hope that Coach Matta
can continue to find the magical words to take the Bucks to that level of
performance.
Written By: host
Date Posted: 3/27/2008
Number of Views: 854
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