Terence Dials scored 18 points and Ron Lewis drove for a layup in the closing seconds to lift Ohio (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today; No. 9 AP) State to a 56-53 victory over Northwestern on Wednesday night that clinched at least a share of the Big Ten championship.
The Buckeyes (22-4, 11-4), who lead No. 10 Illinois by a game in the standings, could win the title outright with a victory over Purdue on Sunday.
Terence Dials scored 19 points inside and Ohio State (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today; No. 13 AP) hit 11 3-pointers in a 79-68 victory over Michigan State (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today; No. 18 AP) on Wednesday night, snapping the Spartans’ 15-game home winning streak.
Je’Kel Foster had 17 points, Ron Lewis 13, Jamar Butler 12 and Matt Sylvester 10 for the Buckeyes (20-4, 9-4), who tied Iowa for first place in the Big Ten and snapped a 10-game losing streak in the Breslin Center.
Maurice Ager had 26 points for the Spartans (19-8, 7-6), 16 coming in the first half as Michigan State took a 37-34 lead. Shannon Brown had 17 points and Paul Davis added 14 for Michigan State.
The Spartans led 43-36 early in the second half but Dials scored to tie it at 54. Foster and Lewis then combined for three 3-pointers as the Buckeyes went ahead 63-58.
Ohio State led 67-66 when Butler hit a 3 over a sprawled Drew Neitzel. Two offensive rebounds by Sylvester helped pad the lead before Butler connected again from long range to ice the win.
The Buckeyes shot 48 percent from the field, including 46 percent beyond the arc. Dials had 10 rebounds as Ohio State finished with a 33-32 advantage on the boards.
The Bucks are only a half game out of first place in the big ten with 4 games to go. We have 2 huge games starting Wednesday at Michigan State (always a tough game and we owe them a butt whooping) and then on Saturday we have our rivals coming to Columbus in the Michigan Wolverines. (They want revenge for us killing them in everything lately) We are going to need some huge efforts from everyone and a little luck to win 1 or both of these games. I just hope they make us proud and play well and with pride.
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| Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and his staff welcomed 20 prospects for their 2006 football class on national signing day Wednesday.
The class – generally ranked anywhere from eighth to 12th nationally — included 10 players from Ohio and 10 from out of state. It also has 12 players on offense and eight on defense. “I think the strength of this class is it’s versatility,” Tressel said. “It has a little bit of everything: character, solid academic credentials and athletic ability. We went looking for help across the board at every position and feel as though we accomplished that goal. “This group, as a whole, is very versatile. If you spread it along a broad spectrum, we got a little bit of everything. “We think we have a tremendous product to sell. Ohio State is an extraordinary place. The tradition, in our minds, is unmatched.” Ohio State signed seven national top-100 players, including the nation’s top overall prospect in Akron Garfield tailback Chris Wells. Wells, cornerback Kurt Coleman and linebackers Larry Grant and Ross Homan will all participate in spring football. But, as always, Tressel stopped short of predicting that any of the incoming players will make a major impact in 2006. “The one question you always get is who will make an immediate impact?” Tressel said. “What I like about this group is that they all feel they can come in and make an impact. They know they’ve got to get caught up in the system and move ahead with their strength and speed and knowledge. “But this class is spread so evenly in all areas that they all feel they will have that opportunity to come in and compete.” |
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Ohio State will be represented at Super Bowl XL on Sunday in Detroit as the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Seattle Seahawks.Former OSU defensive end Rodney Bailey will be on the field Sunday as a backup defensive end for the Seahawks. Bailey, who played at OSU from 1997-2000, will actually be lined up against his former team, the Steelers, who drafted him in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL draft.
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Larry Grant
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| City College of San Francisco linebacker Larry Grant committed to Ohio State today over Oregon during a national radio broadcast.Grant (6-3, 225, 4.45) becomes the 20th member of an OSU recruiting class that could end up with one more signee if Louisville (Ky.) Central defensive lineman Corey Peters picks the Buckeyes on Wednesday.He is ranked as the nation’s fourth-best junior college prospect by SuperPrep magazine. The Scout.com database lists Grant as a five-star player.
“After looking everything over and looking at Ohio State and Oregon, I chose Ohio State as the place where I will spend my next two years,” Grant said. “In the Big Ten, the linebackers can show their flexibility. Some of the teams pass the ball and some of them run the ball. I think I will be able to stand out more in the Big Ten. There will be a lot of stuff on the air about who will replace A.J. Hawk. I wanted to be a part of that.” Grant, a native or Norcross, Ga., played two seasons at CCSF and was ticketed to enroll at Florida this spring. But an admissions snafu there led him to re-open his college choice. He took visits to Ohio State and Oregon before settling on OSU. He will enroll at OSU for spring quarter and participate in spring drills. He would have a chance to compete for one of the three open linebacker spots at Ohio State. As a senior at Norcross, he had 35 rushes for 450 yards and six touchdowns. He originally signed to play college ball at Murray State, but ended up at CCSF instead. As a freshman at CC of San Francisco, he had 90 tackles, six sacks, six blocked punts, four forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. On offense, he had one rush on a fake punt for 65 yards. Grant was named first team all-conference on defense. As a sophomore, he was the California JUCO defensive player of the year. He made 85 tackles, including six sacks. He also intercepted six passes and blocked six punts. “I think the thing that makes me better is my speed,” Grant said. “I think my speed and agility are pretty good. I know how to get hands off of me. I still have a lot of things to work on and I will get to work on that.” OSU previously took two players from CCSF in defensive lineman Paul Breed and linebacker James Cotton. Grant is the first junior college signee in Jim Tressel’s six years as the OSU coach. |
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Ohio State landed another prize recruit today in 4 star WR Raymond Small. He is projetd to play bh oen and fnse for the Bucks. His final 2 schools came down to USC Trojans and The Ohio State University. He was very wise in choosing his home state school and will soon become a member of the family known as the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes had a great week last week with wins over #13 Wisconsin at home and at Penn St. They moved up in both polls this week to the #16 spot in both major polls. This week they have big games at Iowa and at home against Floida A&M. I hope the team will get some much needed fan support this week as it has been lacking recently at home games. This is a very talented team with great potential and they deserve the same type of support as our Football team.
P.S. O-H-I-O GO BUCKS
Gibson Selects Ohio State |
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Thaddeus Gibson
He was expected to commit to Ohio State for months, but you never know how things are going to turn out in the world of recruiting. But on Monday, Euclid linebacker Thaddeus Gibson made it official: He will be a Buckeye.
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A DB from The “M” state has verbally committed to the Bucks.
Ohio State added a fourth defensive back to its recruiting class yesterday with the commitment of Michigan prospect Aaron Gant.
Gant, 6 feet, 205 pounds, of St. Mary’s Prepatory School in Orchard Lake, Mich., became the 17 th member of a class that could number 18 to 20 on signing day Feb. 1. Gant hopped on board, he said, because “I was feeling it, that Ohio State is the right place for me.”
It will be interesting to find out, perhaps as soon as today, whether his St. Mary’s teammate Anthony Bowman is feeling it, too. Bowman, a blue-chip all-purpose player, had committed to Iowa but backed off recently. He visited Ohio State this past weekend with Gant.
Gant, meanwhile, canceled a scheduled visit to Michigan this weekend. He was a safety and running back (with just more than 1,000 yards on 156 carries) last season, and was also being courted strongly by Michigan State and Illinois.
He will play defense at Ohio State, he said. Though he was aware of the early departures to the NFL of safety Donte Whitner and Ashton Youboty, he said that was not the primary reason he picked the Buckeyes.
“I know that wherever I go, I’m going to have to work hard and prove myself,” Gant said.
