News / Sports
Ohio State Overcomes 20 Point Deficit to Beat Tennessee, Advances to Elite Eight
The number one seeded Ohio State Buckeyes overcame a 49-29 deficit in the first half to beat the number five seeded Tennessee Volunteers 85-84 and advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee opened the first half with seven three-pointers in the first ten minutes to grab a 23-14 lead. The Volunteers went on to use a 9-2 run to push their lead to 39-20 with 3:55 on the clock. Ohio State was able to cut their deficit to 14 but Tennessee responded with six straight and were up by 20. The Buckeyes were able to score the final three points in the half and went to the locker room down 49-32.
Ohio State came out in the second half with a 12-2 sprint and trailed by seven, 51-44. Chris Lofton broke a five minute scoreless streak for the Volunteers with a three-pointer to boost the lead back to ten but the Buckeyes used a 9-2 run to get within four.
Greg Oden gave Ohio State an 84-82 lead after hitting a pair of free-throws with 1:38 left in the game. Wayne Chism had a chance to tie the score for the Volunteers but hit just one of two from the line. Up by one with 46 seconds Ron Lewis missed a three-pointer for the Buckeyes and Tennessee had another chance to grab the lead but Ramar Smith hit just one of two from the line to tie the score 84-84 with 38 seconds left. Mike Conley then was fouled with 6 seconds and hit the first of two free throws to give the Buckeyes the one point lead.
Smith grabbed the rebound and raced down the floor for one last shot but his layup was swatted out of the air by Oden and the Buckeyes moved on.
The Buckeyes hit 52 percent from the floor and got to the line 35 times, hitting 23 of their attempts. Tennessee shot 16-31 from beyond the three-point line but got to the foul-line just 17 times in the game and hit 8 of their attempts.
Ron Lewis led the Buckeyes with 25 points while Mike Conley added 17 points and 7 rebounds. Chris Lofton led the Volunteers with 24 points.
