Buckeyes sink to new low
OSU loses back-to-back nonconference home games for first time in 50 years
Alex Hamilton scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half and Louisiana Tech handed Ohio State a loss it hadn’t seen in more than 50 years.
Four days after its first home loss to a team from a nonmajor conference (TexasArlington), the Buckeyes fell behind almost immediately and lost 82-74 to Louisiana Tech on Tuesday at Value City Arena. Ohio State has now lost consecutive nonconference home games for the first time since Dec. 11 and 13, 1963, when Davidson
and Missouri won at St. John Arena.
The Bulldogs, picked to finish fifth in the Conference USA preseason poll and a week removed from a 12-point victory over Texas-Arlington, never trailed in this one.
The Buckeyes (2-2) had hope when they put together an 11-2 run midway through the second half to pull even with the Bulldogs (4-0) at 55 with 11:25 remaining. Junior Marc Loving had six points during the run and freshman Austin Grandstaff hit a threepointer to get the crowd going, but immediately after tying the score, the Buckeyes fell flat.
Louisiana Tech responded with a 10-2 run, punctuated when Jacobi Boykins hit three free throws after a Grandstaff foul in the corner to put the Bulldogs ahead 65-57 with 8:23 remaining, and it was too much for the Buckeyes to overcome.
Loving led the Buckeyes with a career-high 25 points. Hamilton led four Bulldogs in double figures.
Louisiana Tech held a four-point halftime lead, and that came in spite of a 7-2 Ohio State run to close a half. Two free throws from LeAntwan Luckett with 2:21 remaining pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to nine points for the second time, but Grandstaff canned his second three-pointer of the game to cut into the deficit and generate some buzz from the crowd.
After a Louisiana Tech turnover, the teams traded missed baskets before JaQuan Lyle hit two free throws to cut the Buckeyes’ deficit to four with 1:05 left. Ohio State forced a stop and freshman Daniel Giddens earned two free throws when Joniah White fouled him on the rebound attempt, but with a chance to cut OSU’s deficit to two, he missed both. And when Hamilton hit two free throws with 31 seconds left, the Buckeyes called a timeout and set up their final play.
Loving, who led the team with 11 first-half points, finished the play with 9 seconds left to set the halftime score at 42-38.
Louisiana Tech opened the game with a 7-0 run during which the Buckeyes missed four shots and turned the ball over twice. They would twice fight back to tie the score — once at 12 on a Lyle floater in the lane with 13:09 remaining and again at 25 on a Keita Bates-Diop basket with 7:46 left — but the Bulldogs answered with runs of 8-0 and 7-0 to regain momentum.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta made his first change to the starting lineup this season, inserting Giddens in place of sophomore Trevor Thompson.