Da'Sean Butler stood in the way of an Ohio State payback.
Butler scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and No.
11 West Virginia overcame a double-digit deficit to beat No. 21
Ohio State 71-65 on Saturday.
The Buckeyes couldn't forget last year's 76-48 loss to the
Mountaineers in Columbus, Ohio State's largest margin of defeat
ever at home against an unranked opponent. And for a while it
looked like Ohio State (14-6) would get revenge, leading by as many
as 14 points early.
But Ohio State cooled off after making 55 percent (16-of-29)
of its first-half shots. The Buckeyes made just one field goal over
the final 8 minutes.
West Virginia (15-3) overcame yet another slow start and
stepped up its intensity inside after halftime, driving the lane
for easy baskets and outrebounding the Buckeyes 35-26 after the
teams were about even in the first half.
"We challenged all of them at halftime to go out and do what
we do,'' said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Butler listened, going 5 of 7 from the floor after the break.
"You miss shots and you make shots,'' he said. "I was just
happy to go out there and lead my team to a victory the best way I
can.''
He said the biggest difference was ``the way we came out in
the second half by guarding, rebounding, and we started to make
shots which made it easier on everybody.''
Darryl Bryant added 14 points and Wellington Smith had 11 for
the Mountaineers.
William Buford led Ohio State with 22 points. Evan Turner had
18 and 11 rebounds, and Jon Diebler scored 11.
"They definitely made shots and got hot,'' Turner said. "They
got momentum which you can't let them do when you're on the road.
When they got a little bit of light, they made shots and got
confident. We had our foot on their throat and they were about to
quit, but they made some shots.''
Trailing 40-28 at halftime, West Virginia scored the first 10
points of the second half to take control. Butler made 3-pointers a
couple minutes apart that put the Mountaineers ahead 62-56 with
6:28 left. The second came from the corner as the shot clock
expired.
"He's made a lot of big shots in his career,'' Huggins said.
``We expect Da' to do that.''
Turner, who had 13 first-half points, was quiet for most of
the second half but made five free throws over a 2-minute stretch
to keep the Buckeyes close.
Diebler hit two free throws with 1:37 left and Dallas
Lauderdale scored off a Turner miss with 56 seconds left to bring
the Buckeyes within 69-65, but Ohio State didn't score again.
"We didn't have the defensive intensity that we needed
against what I considered a high-powered offense,'' said Ohio State
coach Thad Matta. "WVU did a great job at moving and finding open
guys.''
West Virginia's Devin Ebanks continued his January slump,
going to the bench and getting an earful from Huggins midway
through the first half for lapses on the offensive end.
Ebanks, the team's third-leading scorer, had just seven
points, the fourth time in five games he's been below double
figures.
Butler's day didn't start so well, either. He had three early
turnovers, Ohio State scored the game's first eight points and led
29-15 midway through the first half. It marked the fourth time in
six games that West Virginia fell behind by double digits in the
first half.
"Coming into this game, we picked up a pattern on what they
were going to do and we prepared for every scenario,'' Matta said.
"They started the second half with two offensive rebounds and then
they kept ending up with the ball. I guess we didn't swarm as much
as we need to, to get it back.''
