LAS VEGAS — Tavien St. Clair, a four-star quarterback for Bellefontaine (Ohio) High School class of 2025, is the genuine deal. He’s totally committed to the Buckeyes, which is good news for Ohio State supporters.
The 210-pound, 6-3.5 athlete appeared at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas on Saturday for Nike’s “The Next Ones” event. It’s an assemblage of many of the best football prospects in the country.
Quarterbacks Bryce Underwood, committed to LSU, George MacIntyre, committed to Tennessee, Blake Hebert, committed to Clemson, and Bekkem Kritza, committed to Penn State, were also present.
Back on its home court at Value City Arena four days after blowing an 18-point lead to Indiana, Ohio State needed something good to happen as it hosted Maryland.
Better than good, the Buckeyes have to hope their dramatic 79-75 double overtime win over the visiting Terrapins is the catalyst that jump starts a late season run. A raucous crowd of 13,471 was on hand and cheered their approval as OSU outlasted Maryland in a game that took just over 2-1/2 hours to complete.
“I was just really happy for our guys,” said OSU coach Chris Holtmann, whose team snapped a five-game losing streak and bounced back from Tuesday’s 76-73 loss to Indiana. “They work hard and they are good kids. We’ve been close in a couple of games. That was a gut punch the other day for our players and the coaches and our fans.
“I felt terrible in this stretch for people, our fans, our coaches. I thought our fans were critical. One of our coaches said he felt the crowd carried us for the last 15 minutes.
“They deserve a ton of credit for how they played and competed. When it was challenging in stretches, they never gave in. They just kept swinging. To be honest with you, that’s how we’ve been here of late. We’ve been a group that has competed. We just haven’t always played as well as we needed to. They did a phenomenal job.”
The man of this match was OSU sophomore point guard Bruce Thornton, who ended up with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 43 minutes of work for the Buckeyes (14-10, 4-9).
“I’m just proud of the kid,” Holtmann said. “We told him going into this game, ‘We’re going to roll with you make or miss because I trust your decision making.’ ”
Thornton hit a clutch three to tie the game at 61-61 with 1:02 left in regulation. Thornton then drove and banked in a tough shot around a taller defender to tie it at 71-71 with one minute left in the first overtime.
In the second OT, Thornton drove for a layup and a 77-75 lead with 1:12 left. In the final seconds, Maryland tried to tie but Donta Scott had his layup blocked by Zed Key. Thornton got the rebound and outletted to Roddy Gayle Jr., whose windmill jam with three seconds left capped the dramatic win.
“It’s just all the hard work you put in when it’s not going your way,” Thornton said of the breakthrough win. “It showed today. I just told me to let it hang and have a swagger. It doesn’t matter who says what about you … you have to have that mentality and that swagger that you’re going to make that next shot.
“Even when we went down, we still had that confidence. I saw the look in my teammates’ eyes. We’re going to win this game no matter what. It doesn’t matter how we get it done or who has to score. We came together and got the dub today.”
Gayle Jr. added 17 points and three assists. He only made 4 of 12 shots from the floor and was 1 of 4 on threes. But he was 8 of 8 at the foul line and provided stellar defense down the stretch on high scoring Maryland guard Jahmir Young.
“I don’t know if we win the game without Roddy’s defense in the last 10 minutes of regulation and the 10 minutes of overtime,” Holtmann said. “His defense was phenomenal. He forced him into tough shots, kept him in front and took away his post-ups. Young is the second leading scorer in the Big Ten, and Roddy’s defense was off the charts.
“He said, ‘Keep me on him.’ We tried to keep him on him as much as we could.”
Gayle added, “We knew Young is an amazing, incredibly gifted scorer. We just wanted to make his job harder. That was my goal for tonight. I wanted to make every shot contested and every move he wanted to do to bother him a little bit. I wanted him to go to his second option.”
Forward Jamison Battle had eight points and six rebounds for OSU.
Guard Evan Mahaffey chipped in seven points and seven rebounds for OSU, while guard Dale Bonner and center Felix Okpara each added seven points as well. Okpara also had six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Young had 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead the Terrapins (13-11, 5-8), who suffered their third straight loss. He ended up 8 of 22 from the floor, 4 of 8 on threes and 6 of 7 at the foul line. In the two overtime periods, he was 1 of 4 from the floor and 0 for 2 on threes.
Forward Donta Scott had 19 points and five rebounds for Maryland, while forward Julian Reese had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Terps.
This game was marked by fouls (a total of 45 by both teams, 25 by Ohio State) and free throw shooting. OSU was 85 percent at the line (17 of 20), while Maryland was 67 percent (20 of 30).
This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams this season.
Holtmann talked about his team showed resiliency in bouncing back from that tough loss to Indiana on Tuesday.
“The biggest thing for us is I feel like they have been working hard in practice and we’ve been getting better. They needed to feel the reward of a win. They need to feel that validation. Hopefully that is something we can build on.”
Ohio State went on a 13-2 run over the final seven minutes of the half to reverse a 10-point deficit into a 33-32 halftime lead. OSU shot 42 percent (11 of 26) from the floor in the first half to 40 percent for Maryland (12 of 30), which missed its last seven shots of the half during the OSU comeback.
Thornton had 11 points and Mahaffey seven in the first half for OSU. Scott had 12 points and Young scored eight for Maryland in the first half.
Maryland led for just shy of 18 minutes during the half. Reese and Young feasted early with a three by Young making it 13-4 and forcing an OSU timeout with 14:41 left in the half.
Ohio State went on a 10-2 run with a Thornton three off a rebound by Devin Royal, three points from Dale Bonner, a Thornton foul line jumper and Felix Okpara tipping in a Roddy Gayle Jr. pass for a basket. That cut the lead to 15-14.
But Scott had a rebound basket and a three in transition and Mady Traore also scored on a rebound to make it 28-18 in favor of the Terps. Scott threw in a hook for a 30-20 lead with 7:17 left.
This is when the Ohio State defense dug in and held Maryland to 1 of 9 shooting from the floor during its 13-2 run to end the half. Royal started the run with two free throws. Mahaffey added a one-hander on a drive. After Maryland’s Traore scored to make it 32-24, OSU scored the last nine points of the half.
Those came on a drive by Thornton, two free throws by Thornton, a rare Mahaffey three from the left corner off a Thornton pass and, finally, Thornton held it for the last shot, drove down the right side of the lane and flipped in a running hook with three seconds left to give the Buckeyes a 33-32 lead at the break.
“I thought we just expended more effort on the defensive end,” Holtmann said. “Some of our traps in the post bothered them. We were able to get some forced twos and some turnovers. We just played harder and we settled in offensively with some middle-of-the-floor stuff with Bruce. He got it going and got us into a rhythm.”
Maryland surged ahead 37-33 to start the second half on a three by Young and a rebound basket by Traore. OSU rallied with a Thornton jumper, a Bonner reverse and a free throw by Royal to go up 38-37.
OSU’s Zed Key had been listed as questionable for this game. He did not check in until there was 14:23 left in the game when Okpara had three fouls and Royal had four. He immediately took a charge at one end and made a layup off a Mahaffey pass for a 40-39 lead with 13:01 left.
Maryland went ahead 46-42 after a three-point play by Reese and a layup by Jahari Long. Gayle, who had missed his first six shots from the floor, got a three to roll around and fall in to cut it to 46-45.
But Maryland’s Scott made two free throws and splashed a three for a 51-45 lead with 8:55 left. Young hit a three for a 55-49 lead with 7:57 left.
OSU rallied with a tough drive by Gayle and a coast-to-coast layup by Thornton to cut the lead to 55-53 with 5:31 left. Thornton shook Maryland’s Young and scored on that transition play. OSU was slow on a defensive rotation and Young made them pay with a three for a 58-53 lead.
OSU’s Okpara split a pair of free throws and Thornton lobbed to Okpara for a dunk to cut it to 60-58 with 3:44 left. Maryland’s Reese split a pair of free throws for a 61-58 lead.
The teams traded misses with OSU’s Gayle getting on the floor for the rebound and calling timeout with 2:19 left. OSU ran a play for Bowen Hardman, but he faked a three and missed on a runner. Maryland’s Young then missed a shot and it went out of bounds to OSU with 1:27 left.
OSU worked it with Gayle tossing to Thornton on the left wing. His three tied it at 61-61 with 1:02 left.
“What a critical play that was,” Holtmann said. “That was a critical, high level decision.”
Maryland’s Scott was fouled with 48.1 seconds left, but he missed both free throws. OSU’s Thornton then missed a jumper in the lane with 31 seconds left. At the other end, Young held it but his foul line jumper with two seconds left was off the mark and it was on to overtime.
OSU won the tip. Okpara was fouled and hit two free throws. Maryland’s Long hit a driving bank shot to tie it at 63-63.
OSU’s Gayle tallied on a reverse but Maryland’s DeShawn Harris-Smith made his first shot on a three from the left wing for a 66-65 lead.
OSU regained the lead on a one-hander in the lane by Battle. But Battle fouled Young, whose two free throws put Maryland ahead 68-67.
OSU’s Battle was off on a three-point try. Maryland’s Young was fouled again and hit both free throws for a 70-67 lead with 1:57 left.
OSU’s Thornton drove and hit a one-hander in the lane to cut it to 70-69 with 1:32 left. Young was fouled by Gayle on a drive with 1:21 left. He split two free throws to make it 71-69 Terrapins. Thornton drove the lane and banked in a tough shot to tie it at 71-71 with one minute left.
Maryland’s Reese drove and drew a foul on Okpara, his fifth sending him to the bench. Reese missed both free throws and Royal rebounded with 38 seconds left. OSU’s Battle missed a jumper with eight seconds left. Maryland’s Young raced into the frontcourt and his off-balance shot from the baseline missed and it was on to overtime No. 2.
Maryland won the tip and promptly went ahead 73-71 on a hook shot by Reese. OSU’s Battle drove and scored with his left hand to tie it at 73-73.
Maryland went back ahead 75-73 on a driving bank shot by Young with 2:36 left. OSU’s Gayle missed, but Key rebounded and scored to tie it at 75-75 with 1:59 left. Maryland’s Young missed on a three with Thornton rebounding.
Thornton brought it up and never relinquished it. He came off a Key screen and went to the basket for a tough layup to put OSU up 77-75 with 1:12 left.
“I’m thinking go get a bucket,” Thornton said. “I had straight tunnel vision at the end of the game. My teammates gave me the right space. They went over the screen at first. I made Zed re-screen. I knew they would try and play wall-up defense. I just got to my spot that me and Roddy work on every day in practice. I got to my spot and that was it.”
Thornton then had a steal, but Battle’s miss gave Maryland possession with 19 seconds left. Maryland’s Scott tried to drive, but his shot was blocked by Key. Thornton retrieved the loose ball and outletted to Gayle, whose windmill jam capped it.
“That felt like everything,” Gayle said on his dunk. “Just hearing Buckeye Nation going wild, it felt like it had been a while since we had that much energy in the building. It felt amazing.”
* This was OSU’s second overtime game and win of the season. The Buckeyes also outlasted West Virginia 78-75 in overtime on Dec. 30 in Cleveland. OSU improved to 6-6 in overtime games in Chris Holtmann’s seven seasons as the OSU head coach.
It was OSU’s first double overtime game since a win at Indiana on Feb. 23, 2018.
* Key was listed as questionable on the availability report as he has been dealing with illness. He did not enter the game until early in the second half. He ended up with four points and the critical blocked shot on Scott to effectively end the game in the second overtime.
“I’m really happy for Zed,” Holtmann said. “I didn’t know if he was going to play. I texted our trainer Tony (Laurenzi) and I didn’t know if he would have the energy to go. He walled up there at the end (against Scott) and was terrific. He gave us a lift.”
* Freshman Devin Royal had five points and six rebounds, although his time was limited to just under 14 minutes as he collected four fouls trying to guard larger Maryland opponents.
“I thought he gave us a good lift,” Holtmann said of Royal. “He’s got to figure out how to foul a little bit less. But I thought he was good.”
* Ohio State-Maryland Series: The all-time series is now tied 11-11. Ohio State leads 8-3 in games played in Columbus, including a 7-3 edge at Value City Arena.
The teams split their two meetings last year with the Terrapins winning 83-73 at College Park and the Buckeyes winning 73-62 in Columbus.
OSU coach Chris Holtmann is now 6-5 against Maryland. Maryland coach Kevin Willard is 1-4 against Ohio State (1-2 at Maryland, 0-1 at Seton Hall and 0-1 at Iona).
* In his seventh season at Ohio State, coach Chris Holtmann’s teams are 137-85 overall and 67-64 in Big Ten games. In 13 years overall, Holtmann is 251-170 as a college head coach.
* Under Holtmann, Ohio State is 82-27 in home games. That includes a 10-4 record this season. The losses were to then-No. 15 Texas A&M 73-66 on Nov. 10, then-No. 15 Wisconsin 71-60 on Jan. 10, then-No. 14 Illinois 87-75 on Jan. 30 and Indiana 76-73 on Tuesday
* Computer Rankings: Ohio State, 67th in KenPom.com, 71st in NCAA NET rankings; Maryland, 59th in KenPom.com, 84th in NCAA NET rankings.
* Next On The Docket: The Buckeyes will visit No. 11 Wisconsin on Tuesday (9 p.m., Peacock). The Badgers are 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Big Ten play after a loss at Rutgers (78-66) today. Wisconsin took a 71-60 win over Ohio State on Jan. 10 in Columbus.
