Two-Headed Monster Leads Buckeyes to Victory

With all the hype surrounding potential Player of the Year Evan Turner, it is easy to overlook the other integral players who have helped the Ohio State Buckeyes become the 9 th ranked team in the nation.

One of these players is former McDonald’s High School All-American and Ohio High School Player of the Year, William Buford.

Buford led the Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon to a 66-55 victory over rival Michigan by recording a double-double with a team-high 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds. The 6-5’ sophomore guard from Toledo, Ohio put together a solid shooting performance by bucketing 9-of-15 field-goals including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Not to be outdone, Turner put together yet another stat-filling game tallying 18 points, a team-high 11 rebounds and seven assists, and a career-high four blocks.

The two-headed monster of Turner and Buford fed Dallas Lauderdale for some easy dunks as the Buckeye center contributed 14 points. The trio accounted for 56 of their team’s 66 points.

Michigan (13-15, 6-10) had three players lead them with 11 points as all five of their starters scored in double figures.

The game looked like it was going to be a blowout from the outset as Ohio State jumped out to a 9-0 lead.

With Buford and Turner scoring 14 of their team’s first 19 points the Buckeyes took a nine point advantage at the halfway mark in the first half.

Perhaps thinking they would cruise to an easy win, OSU allowed Michigan to put together a 16-6 run to take their first lead of the game at 26-25. The Wolverines would sustain their lead as the Buckeyes would head into the locker room with a 33-32 deficit.

The complacency Ohio State showed in the ladder stages of the first half was gone to begin the second half and a series of hustle plays by Turner ignited the home crowd.

Michigan ran out on a fast break and had what looked to be an easy transition basket until Turner hustled down the floor and blocked the shot. Turner then took that blocked shot and ran down the floor where he found Jon Diebler for an open 3-pointer. Diebler missed the shot but Turner skied for the offensive rebound and put it back up and in for two.

Turner then found Lauderdale for a layup on OSU’s next offensive possession to cap a 15-4 Buckeyes run. The Buckeyes had taken control of the game and lead 47-37 with 12 minutes remaining.

The Wolverines would continue to fight but Ohio State’s defense would never allow Michigan to get within less than seven points. During a 7:40 minute span down the stretch, the Wolverines were held without a field-goal as Ohio State closed out the game for good.

The field-goal drought for the Wolverines was just one of five different field-goal droughts of at least four minutes or more throughout the game.

With the victory, Ohio State records its conference leading 13 th Big Ten victory and improves to 23-7 overall.

Ohio State aims to end their regular season on a high note as they host the Illinois Fighting Illini this coming Tuesday night in Columbus.

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