First Posted: 2/15/2014
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Aaron Craft scored 14 points and No. 22 Ohio State held Illinois to 28.3 percent shooting on the way to a scrappy 48-39 win on Saturday.
Craft picked up two early fouls and spent two long stretches on the bench. But he was still the Buckeyes’ best option on a tough offensive night for each team.
LaQuinton Ross added nine points for Ohio State (20-6, 7-6 Big Ten), which trailed 23-20 at halftime. The Buckeyes made 38 percent of their shots.
Illinois (14-12, 3-10) scored just nine points over the first 15:35 minutes of the second half.
Tracy Abrams led Illinois with 13 points. Nnanna Egwu had a career-high 14 rebounds but fouled out late.
While each team struggled with its shooting, defense also played a key role.
The Illini paid close attention to Ross, who was averaging a team-high 14.6 points. He had just one field goal in the second half and was 3 for 8 from the field for the game.
Rayvonte Rice, Illinois’ leading scorer, had trouble getting open for much of the game. He had seven late points to finish with 11.
Illinois’ shooting percentage was a sickly 29 percent in the first half. But the Illini still had the lead at the break, using their defense and a flurry of early 3-pointers to grab the advantage.
But that poor shooting percentage kept getting lower as the game went along.
The Illini hit just one of their first nine shots in the second half, a seven-minute stretch during which the Buckeyes put together a 10-2 run to take a 30-25 lead.
Egwu’s jumper with 12:55 to play temporarily ended Illinois’ scoring drought.
But the Buckeyes eventually pulled away. Amedeo Della Valle had a layup and Marc Loving made consecutive jump shots to put the Buckeyes up 38-29.
While the Buckeyes managed to find a little offense, Illinois was missing — jumpers and finger rolls and even a dunk attempt by Jon Ekey that skidded harmlessly across the top of the rim.
Illinois went 8:14 without a field goal before Abrams tossed in a 3-pointer with 4:25 to play, making it 42-32.
The Illini have lost 10 of 11.
No. 10 Cincinnati 73,
Houston 62
CINCINNATI — Sean Kilpatrick scored 28 points and Justin Jackson overcame foul problems to add 13 points and Cincinnati shook off Houston.
Shaquille Thomas added 11 for the Bearcats (23-3, 12-1 American Athletic Conference), who were playing their first game since having a 15-game winning streak snapped with a 76-55 loss at SMU on Feb. 8.
Danrad Knowles scored 11 points to lead Houston (12-13, 4-8), which has lost six of its past seven and eight of its past 10 games, led Houston with 11 points. L.J. Rose, Danuel House and TaShawn Thomas each added 10 for the Cougars.
Marquette 81, Xavier 72
MILWAUKEE — Xavier coach Chris Mack needed only one straightforward statistic to explain his team’s loss at Marquette.
“You can’t go on the road and have 19 turnovers against a team that’s starting to play its best basketball of the year and expect to win,” said Mack. “We knew that coming in, that taking care of the ball was a big concern of ours, but give Marquette a credit, they did a great job. But to me, that was the difference in the game.”
The Golden Eagles converted those turnovers into 27 points and senior guard Jake Thomas scored 18 points on a career-best six 3-pointers to pace Marquette to a Big East Conference victory over the Musketeers on Saturday.
Davante Gardner and Jamil Wilson each added 16 points for Marquette, (15-10, 7-5 Big East), which has won three consecutive games for the first time this season.
Justin Martin had 20 points for Xavier, 17-8 overall, but also 7-5 in the conference after a 5-1 start. Matt Stainbrook and Myles Davis added 12 points apiece for the Musketeers.
ONU 90, Mount Union 85
ALLIANCE — Junior Isaiah Roux scored a career-high 26 points to lead Ohio Northern.
Rose-Hulman 61, Bluffton 55
BLUFFTON – Thayne Recker had 12 points and Dustin Kinn had 10 for the Beavers.
Women’s roundup
ONU 60, Mount Union 50
ADA — Senior Cenzie Yoder posted a game-high 16 points to lead Ohio Northern to its seventh straight victory.
Bluffton 71, Rose-Hulman 61
BLUFFTON — The Beavers clinched their first Heartland Conference tournament berth in five years.
