Wildcats Fall to Ohio State 70-62 in First Round of NCAA Tournament
Friday, March 17, 2006
DAYTON, Ohio -- Ian Johnson tied a career-high with 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but the 15th-seeded Davidson Wildcats could not overcome an Ohio State second half run as the second-seeded Buckeyes escaped the upset with a 70-62 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Dayton Arena. The Wildcats conclude the 2005-06 campaign 20-11 overall, while Ohio State improves to 26-5 and awaits the Georgetown/Northern Iowa winner in the second round Sunday.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with three ties and five lead changes throughout the first 20 minutes. Johnson provided all Wildcat offense early in the contest, scoring Davidson's 10 points and 12 of the first 14. The 'Cats took a 10-8 lead on a Johnson trifecta, then the 6-9 senior hit a jumper with eight minutes gone off the clock to put Davidson up, 14-13.
After Ohio State rattled off the next five points, the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run to open up a five-point advantage. Thomas Sander and Kenny Grant each hit layups, and Davidson took the lead when a Sander short jumper rimmed out, but OSU's Terence Dials batted it up and through the hoop. When Grant hit a three from the corner and Brendan Winters scored on a beautiful backdoor reverse layup, the Wildcats were up, 25-20.
The Buckeyes tied the score at 25, then Davidson scored the final four points of the half to take a four-point lead into the locker room. Defense ruled the first half with the Wildcats hitting just 13-of-33 (.394) from the floor and 2-of-9 (.222) from downtown. But Ohio State struggled even more with 11 field goals in 37 attempts (.297) and a miserable 1-of-14 (.071) from behind the arc.
Defense continued to be the theme early in the second half as the 'Cats managed to hit just three of their first 14 field goals. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, took some time to heat up, scoring just seven points in the first six minutes. But a 10-0 run over a three-minute span, ignited by consecutive three-pointers by Ron Lewis, put Ohio State up seven with 11:05 to play.
Winters closed the gap to three, 49-46, following a steal and a long jumper with his toe on the line with 7:35 on the clock, but Davidson could not get any closer. The Buckeyes led by as many as 11 with 3:15 left to play before settling for the eight-point win.
With his 26 points, Johnson moved into 10th place on Davidson's all-time scoring list with 1,511 points, surpassing former NBA player Brandon Williams ' 96. Grant finished the game with nine assists, giving him 208 on the season to set a new school record. Winters was the Wildcat besides Johnson in double figures, and he finished his career with 1,892 points, fourth most at Davidson.
The Wildcats struggled shooting the ball all afternoon, going 26-of-68 (.382) from the floor and 5-of-22 (.227) on their three-pointers, the latter being their third lowest mark of the season.
Ohio State was led by Dials' double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Lewis sparked the team off the bench with 19 points as well. J.J. Sullinger contributed a double-double as well with 13 points and rebounds.
Davidson held a slight advantage on the boards at 44-43 and turned the ball over just nine times. But the Buckeyes had just four turnovers and shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) in the second half, including 4-of-8 on threes.
The Wildcats are now 5-9 all-time in eight trips to the NCAA Tournament.
