The Ohio State men’s basketball team overcame a lackluster inaugural performance last night to defeat the Coppin State Eagles 58-51.
In the Buckeyes’ season opener at the Schottenstein Center, OSU managed to put together one last offensive run to finish off Coppin State at the end of regulation.
“Their style of play slowed the game down to the type of style they wanted to play,” said OSU forward Zach Williams. “We’re not going to get down. We got the win and there’s games coming up that will be played differently.”
OSU jumped out to an early seven-point advantage over the Eagles in the absence of point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham and forward Shun Jenkins. Fuss-Cheatham and Jenkins suffered injuries in the team’s final exhibition game, and both may be sidelined for the next month.
Coppin State quickly responded to the Buckeyes’ fast start to pull back into the game several times in the first half. The Eagles plan to slow the style of the game played to their favor as OSU struggled to hasten the game’s tempo. Coppin State finished the first half shooting 70 percent and trailing only 33-30.
“If you shoot 70 percent in any half you’re going to be in it,” said OSU guard Brent Darby. “There was no time to get down on ourselves, so we just had to keep playing.”
The second half told much of the same story for the home team. The Buckeyes struggled to maintain a consistent threat on the offensive side of the ball and saw several possessions slip away due to turnovers.
OSU guard Sean Connolly, who finished with 12 points and 4 assists, attributed OSU’s sloppy play to Coppin State’s ability to dictate play.
“They held the ball a lot which didn’t allow us to get many shots, but you can’t turn the ball over like we did if we’re going to beat good teams,” Connolly said.
With 3:50 remaining in the second half the Buckeyes found themselves in an unpleasant position. Trailing 49-48, Connolly found guard Emonte Jernigan alone on the perimeter. Jernigan nailed the shot from behind the arc to give his team the lead and spark the final offensive run.
“I felt going in that we would have to grind this game out,” said OSU men’s basketball coach Jim O’Brien. “It was not an easy game for us but it would not be fair if I didn’t give Coppin State the credit they deserve.”
The Buckeyes finished the night strong on defense, putting the clamps down on the Eagles’ offensive production. Coppin State forward Larry Tucker led the Eagles with 20 points but only two came in the game’s second stanza.
Darby paced the Buckeyes’ with 18 points, while breaking the century mark for career three-pointers early in the first half.
“A win is a win. It wasn’t pretty but a good team pulls games like this out,” Darby said. “Without two of our key players, to be able to come out and win like this is going to make us better.”
