Career Day For Justice Sueing Leads Ohio State to 80-73 Win Over No. 21 Texas Tech in Maui Invitational

The best day of his career from Hawaii saw the Buckeyes beat No. 21 Texas Tech 80-73 at the Maui Invitational, ending the trip with a 2-1 record and their first ranked win of the year. .

The Buckeyes’ hot start gave them a double-digit lead with just over seven minutes of action, with Ohio State leading at 17:03 of the first half. The Red Raiders remained competitive throughout, but the Buckeyes came out ahead as Sowing dominated the offense and pushed them up another notch in the closing stages.

Ohio State didn’t trail in the second half, and Swing finished with a career-high 33 points. The sixth-year forward scored 23 points in the second half alone. His previous high in a Buckeye uniform was 22.

first half

The first ten minutes of action were all oh. Sowing scored the Buckeyes’ first six points, and Sean McNeil scored the next nine in a row. By the 11:46 mark, back-to-back Buckeye threes gave Ohio State a 23-10 lead following his 16-3 run.

However, the Red Raiders quickly closed the gap and scored the next six as part of the 20-13 stretch to end the first half on a four-point lead.

In the fast-paced offensive half, both teams made over 53% of their field goals and over 38% of their 3-point shots. Each team had two double-digit scorers in the first 20 minutes as Sowing and Bryce Sensabo each had 10s for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State dominated in rebounds (14-11), bench points (10-3) and paint points (16-2) by halftime, passing the ball three times less than the Red Raiders. The Buckeyes scored 8 points in his 7 turnovers by Texas Tech.

Latter half

Ohio State quickly returned to sowing to start the final period. The 6-foot-7 forward scored his five points in the first of the half, helping the Buckeyes maintain his two-possession lead. Thwing hit an open 3-point shot to Bruce Thornton at 15:40 and knocked down his own triple at 1:40 to give Ohio State a 52–41 lead.

However, Texas Tech slowed its pace a bit over the next few minutes and was within 6 points before the media timeout under 12 minutes. Roberts’ verbal transfer Kevin Oberner, who helped knock Ohio State off in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, had another big game against the Buckeyes to keep the Red Raiders afloat in the second half.

O’Bannoll hit another shot at 7:10 to cut Buckeye’s lead to the floor inside Texas Tech’s 6-0 stretch, but Thwing fought back again. The Ohio State winger on the next possession he was fouled on a three-point attempt and knocked down all three of his throws.

Ohio State increased the timeout by 5 points with 1:58 remaining and extended the Buckeyes lead to 7 on subsequent possessions with a putback layup on a throw on the offensive grass. It was part of a stretch that saw Swing score his 14th consecutive point at Ohio State.

It was still a tight game in the final minute, but a free throw eventually signed Scarlett and Gray to a deal.

game notes

• Ohio State opened the Maui Invitational on Monday, losing to No. 17 San Diego State University, 88-77, but bounced back Tuesday with a smashing 81-53 victory over Cincinnati.

• Texas Tech lost 76-65 to No. 10 Clayton in the tournament opener, but beat Louisville by 32:00 Tuesday.

• Red Raider forward Kevin Oberner, who moved from Oral Roberts, helped upset Ohio State as the second seed in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

• Ohio State left its five-game starting lineup unchanged on Wednesday, with Bruce Thornton, Sean McNeil, Isaac Riquele, Judge Sue and Zed Key starting a six-game streak.

• Sensabow was one of three Ohio State freshmen to start his OSU career with six consecutive games scoring in double figures since 1980, surpassing Michael Redd (12 games in 1997). and Jim Jackson (7 games in 1989).

• Eugene Brown (concussion) missed six straight games at Ohio State.

• Ohio State has only two previous meetings with the Red Raiders in the history of the program and won their most recent matchup of the 2004-05 season, 77-71.