Tuesday was a homecoming of sorts for Ohio guards Stevie Taylor and Nick Kellogg.
Although Ohio fell to its in-state counterpart No. 10 Ohio State 79-69, Taylor, a junior from Gahanna, and Kellogg, a senior and Westerville native, finished with a game-high 21 points apiece and kept the Bobcats within distance of an upset.
“The number one thing that Stevie and I and the guys talked about was not giving up, and that’s what we did,” Kellogg said. “And I think we took a step in the right direction.”
The Buckeyes didn’t trail at any point in the contest and led by as many as 17 points in the first half. But Ohio cut its deficit to 65-60 when junior forward Maurice Ndour completed a put-back dunk with 4:03 remaining in regulation.
However, Ohio State (2-0) closed out the victory at Value City Arena, the benefactor of Ohio foul trouble. The Bobcats committed 34 fouls that resulted in 51 Buckeyes free throw attempts.
Ohio had 30 fewer foul shots and scored fewer than half the points from the line (16) as Ohio State (38).
Ohio forwards Ndour, T.J. Hall, Jon Smith and Treg Setty, as well as guard Ricardo Johnson each fouled out.
“We knew we needed to try and protect the paint the best we could, but (Ohio State) just got into the lane,” said Ohio coach Jim Christian. “This is why we played this game ... we wanted to see what did we have to correct.”
Because the majority of Ohio’s big men were in foul trouble throughout the game, Taylor and Kellogg paced the Ohio offense and accounted for more than 60 percent of its total output.
Ohio also finished with a better shooting percentage than Ohio State, with a 44 percent to 41 percent advantage.
“Half that foul trouble was (the guard’s) fault,” Kellogg said. “Guys were penetrating the lane and getting by us, so the breakdowns were on our part. We need to do a better job of keeping the ball out of the paint.”
Ndour added 10 points, but was inconsistent from mid-range, and Johnson, a senior, finished with nine points on 2-for-8 shooting. No other Ohio player scored more than three points.
“We’re not satisfied with our performance tonight,” Taylor said. “If anything, this (loss) is going to fuel us to have a great season.”
Ohio State’s scoring was evenly distributed, given that six players scored at least eight points. Senior guard Aaron Craft led the way with 18 points, 10 of which came during the final five minutes.
The Buckeyes scored the first nine points of the game and controlled the tempo for the entire first half, but their poor second half shooting allowed Ohio to climb back into the game.
“I don’t think we were intimidated, we just got off to a poor start,” Christian said. “You’re going to be hard-pressed to find anybody that plays harder than (Ohio).”
@chadlindskog
cl027410@ohiou.edu
