Buckeyes Reject Loss: Oden's Block on Last Play Caps Rally From 20-Point Deficit

Mar 23, 09:43 AM

Current Headlines: By Marla Ridenour, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Mar. 23--SAN ANTONIO -- With 9:34 to go, Ohio State's two best shot blockers and rebounders, Greg Oden and Othello Hunter, were on the bench with four fouls.

Yet somehow the Buckeyes had managed the unthinkable.

After trailing by 20 points in the first half, they tied the game on two free throws by freshman point guard Mike Conley Jr.

Conley hit the winning free throw with 6.5 seconds left and Ohio State's rematch against the University of Tennessee on Thursday night in the Alamodome proved to be just as thrilling as the first. Oden blocked Ramar Smith's jump shot at the buzzer as OSU pulled out an 85-84 victory in the South Regional semifinals.

Ohio State had prevailed by two points on Jan. 13 in Columbus.

"I don't know if I've seen too many like that in the NCAA Tournament," OSU coach Thad Matta said. "Tennessee blitzed us in the first half. We went in wounded. I didn't like our body language. We were down.

"We talked at halftime about what we had to do to chip away. The run started with our defense, we were able to get a couple easy baskets. When we got it down to six, we knew we had ourselves a ballgame.

"I'm half P.O.'d at them the way we started. But I'm proud we were able to make the plays down the stretch to advance."

Conley said he felt the turnaround coming from the first basket of the second half, a layup by Ron Lewis.

"We saw their body language, we knew we had to be aggressive and attack," Conley said. "There was a lot of time left on the clock. From the beginning of the second half we had an advantage on them."

While the NCAA does not keep records for comebacks in the tournament, it was not the greatest. Duke rallied from 22 points behind against Maryland in the 2001 national semifinals.

Top-seeded Ohio State (33-3), now three victories away from the national title, will face second-seeded Memphis (33-3) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Elite Eight. The game will feature the teams with the nation's two longest winning streaks in Division I -- Memphis at 25, Ohio State at 20. The Tigers defeated Texas A&M 65-64 in the evening's first game.

Lewis, the hero of Saturday's overtime victory against Xavier, finished with 25 points to lead OSU. Conley added 17 and Ivan Harris had 11. Oden totaled nine points, four rebounds and four blocks in 18 minutes.

Chris Lofton led Tennessee (24-11) with 24 points, while Ramar Smith had 15 and JaJuan Smith had 14.

Trailing 49-32 at halftime due to poor shooting and foul trouble, the Buckeyes stormed back with a 12-2 run to start the second half. Lewis and Conley had four each, Harris a 3-pointer and Oden a free throw during the run.

"It's hard to think you don't come out the first 20 minutes like we did the last 20," Conley said. "I'm hoping we can learn a lot from this. That would definitely get us out of the situation we were in tonight."

At halftime, it appeared Matta would have months to second-guess his greatest gamble. And it seemed fitting that it involved Oden, who could be watching the clock tick on his short OSU career. He might be the No. 1 overall pick in June's NBA Draft.

Trailing by 16, Matta sent the 7-foot freshman back into the game with two fouls. Oden re-entered at the 6:19 mark and drew No. 3 at 5:15 trying to defend 6-7 freshman Duke Crews under the basket.

Tennessee went on to open up a 20-point lead at 49-29 and the Buckeyes trailed by 17 at halftime after a three-point play by David Lighty.

The foul trouble started when Conley went to the bench with his second personal foul with 11:12 left before halftime and OSU trailing 20-14. Oden followed seconds later, drawing No. 2 at the 10:48 mark. That proved to be in the midst of a 17-4 Tennessee run that turned a 10-9 Ohio State lead into a 26-14 Tennessee advantage.

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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