Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle lead Ohio State past upset-minded Oakland
Ohio State’s season, for better or worse, will ride largely on the shoulders of its sophomore guards. Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr. felt the sting last year’s 16-19 record and bear the scar tissue the Buckeyes have talked about all season.
In an uncomfortably close season opener, they showed it. As the second half crawled into its own second half, and visiting Oakland pushed its lead back to six points, the two guards took control and got some help from Zed Key.
Down 52-51, Thornton missed an open 3-pointer to continue a rough shooting night for the Buckeyes. But at the other end, he nabbed a pass in the backcourt, turned tail and blazed a trail upcourt that was only exceeded by Gayle.
Thornton lobbed, Gayle rose, Gayle slammed it home and Ohio State (1-0) wouldn’t trail again in a 79-73 win against the Golden Grizzlies (0-1) in the 2023-24 season opener. It was the highlight the Buckeyes had been looking for all game, and when it finally arrived the momentum inside Value City Arena shifted.
"The alley-oop was a turning point and we kept it rolling from there," Key said.
Moments earlier, Oakland had pushed its lead to six points at 50-44, and the visitors could feel the upset. But to answer, Thornton hit a 3-pointer, cutting it to 50-47 and leading to an Ohio State timeout with 11:10 to play. Gayle got beaten for an offensive putback on the next possession, but a floater at the other end brought it back to three points.
It was the start of 12 straight points scored by the sophomores, and it provided the breathing room the Buckeyes had searched for in vain until that point.
And where Gayle and Thornton left off, fourth-year center Zed Key picked things up. The three scored 32 straight points for the Buckeyes and each finished with 17. Of their combined 51 points, 36 of them came after halftime.
"I give our guys a ton of credit," coach Chris Holtmann said. "They found a way to get some stops and make some necessary plays down the stretch in a game that could’ve gone either way."
Oakland kept it interesting, going 14 for 34 from 3 and draining two in the final 40 seconds to pull within 76-73 with 22.2 seconds left. A free throw from Scotty Middleton made it a two-possession game, and when the Golden Grizzlies missed two 3s on their next possession and Middleton was fouled with 4.3 seconds left, Gayle put his hands on his knees in relief.
Ohio State has now won 20 straight home openers. This one, against a team picked to finish sixth in the 11-team Horizon League, was in doubt until the final minutes. It gets significantly tougher for Ohio State, which hosts No. 15 Texas A&M on Friday night.
With 7.6 seconds left in the first half, Ohio State called timeout to draw up its final possession of the half. Gayle inbounded the ball to Thornton, who dribbled near the top of the circle as Devin Royal appeared to hesitate before running out to set a screen. Running out of time, Thornton went to his left, was bumped, went to his knees, got back up and ran out of time to attempt a shot.
It ensured that Oakland took a 35-34 lead into the break after leading for 17:05 of the half and by as many as seven points thanks in large part to its perimeter shooting. The Golden Grizzlies opened the game by connecting on three of their first five 3-pointers to take an 11-5 lead at the first media timeout as Ohio State took six of its first 10 shots from deep and made just one of them.
"We did everything we had to do in the first half," Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. "I’ve got a player that is 6-8 that can really rebound that couldn’t play in this game and we really missed him. They had 10 offensive rebounds and that’s why the game was close. We should’ve been up 8 or 10."
The only Ohio State lead of the half was short-lived. Down 31-28, Key drew a foul down low on a Thornton lob and hit the first free throw but missed the second. Jamison Battle grabbed the rebound and fed it to Dale Bonner, who drew only backboard on a 3-point attempt. Scotty Middleton kept the possession alive, laying out for the ball and pushing it toward the 3-point line where Thornton missed a 3, Key got the rebound and finally scored to knot the game at 31. And after Oakland’s Trey Townsend scored on Battle in the paint, Thornton hit a 3 with 2:05 left to make it 34-33.
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It was short-lived. Both teams traded two empty possessions before Townsend scored over Battle again, setting the halftime score with 1:04 left. After scoring on four straight possessions to take the 34-33 lead, Ohio State got a Bonner turnover, a Battle 3-point miss, a Middleton 3-point miss and a possession without a shot to close the half.
The Buckeyes closed the half having taken 15 of their 28 shots from 3-point range and making only three of them. Oakland, by contrast, was 6 for 12.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Gayle, Thornton help Ohio State survive upset bid from Oakland
