Ohio State beats Santa Clara, captures Emerald Coast Classic title
NICEVILLE, Fla. – Roddy Gayle took the pass, looked up and saw a seam in the Santa Clara zone. Head up, the sophomore guard accelerated into the middle seam of the court, drawing a final line of defense just far enough away from the baseline.
Then the Ohio State guard lobbed his pass forward, catching Zed Key in stride as he took off from the right block. Key slammed it home, turned back up the court and raised the roof in celebration as the Ohio State bench cheered him on.
Gayle's assist on Key's slam gave Ohio State a 62-44 lead just past the midpoint of the second half, and the Buckeyes (5-1) would cruise past Santa Clara (6-1) to an 86-56 win in the championship game of the Emerald Coast Classic inside Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College.
"I think anytime you’re winning any type of championship it’s an important moment, especially when you have a young group," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "I think they enjoyed this opportunity to come and play two good teams. Just really proud of our guys. Proud of our effort. Proud of the growth we had this weekend."
It was a title game matchup that few expected when the field was announced. To get here, Ohio State knocked off No. 17 Alabama on Friday night, 92-81, while Santa Clara took down Oregon 88-82 for its first win against a top-50 team according to KenPom.com in two years.
For a second straight night, Thornton's imprint was all over the Ohio State win. He set a career high with seven assists and scored in double figures. Minnesota graduate transfer Jamison Battle led all scorers with 21 points and starting center Felix Okpara nearly posted a double-double, finishing with 8 points and a team-high seven rebounds -- and a posterizing dunk as Ohio State was running away with the game in the second half.
When Thornton checked out with 3:14 to play, he was greeted with a long hug from coach Chris Holtmann. He finished with 42 points in the two games in the event and was named most valuable player.
"It feels good, man," Thornton told The Dispatch, clutching his MVP plaque. "Coming back 2-0 from a great tournament like this, just showing everybody in the world the work that we put in. We’ve got a great coaching staff. Great managers. Great whole staff. Great fans and the camaraderie with the team, everybody just wants to win, so when you see it on the court, it’s great basketball."
Gayle joined Thornton on the all-tournament team.
The title is Ohio State's first in a neutral-site multi-team event since it beat Rhode Island and Washington in the 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament played in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The Broncos were picked to finish fifth in the nine-team West Coast Conference's preseason poll.
Both teams were playing their second game in less than 24 hours, and that was occasionally reflected in the play – especially once Ohio State built a 14-6 lead in the first 4:50 despite two early fouls on sophomore guard Gayle. He sat for the final 15:14 of the half as the Buckeyes relied on Thornton and Dale Bonner to run the backcourt in his place.
The bulk of the scoring came from Battle, who eclipsed his season-high scoring total in the first half alone. At the half, he had 16 of Ohio State’s 34 points on 6 of 12 shooting.
The Buckeyes pushed their lead to double digits for the first time on a four-point possession. After Thornton drew a foul on Santa Clara’s Tyeree Bryan, the Bronco was also whistled for a technical foul. Thornton hit the two free throws, and on the ensuing possession Bonner buried a jumper to make it 21-11. Two possessions later, Battle hit another 3-pointer to give Ohio State its biggest lead of the half at 13 points.
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Everything got more difficult from there, but Ohio State remained ahead by multiple possessions. At times, Thornton single-handedly made sure of it. Ahead 26-19, Thornton grabbed a loose ball with a full-body extension and drew a foul in the process. Thornton was slow to get up, but he hit both sides of the one-and-one free throw at the other end with 4:54 left. And two possessions later, he again came up with a steal and finished the ensuing possession with a nifty step-over move in the paint to give Ohio State a 30-22 lead.
The Buckeyes took momentum and the lead into the locker room at the half. Ahead 32-26, Holtmann called timeout with 55.8 seconds left, likely to try and get two possessions in the final minute. Ohio State got a lob from Thornton to Evan Mahaffey behind Santa Clara’s zone defense for an easy put-in, but it wouldn’t get another shot. Instead, the Buckeyes battled defensively, forcing two airballed shots in the final 30 seconds to maintain a 34-26 lead.
Ohio State was set to fly home immediately after the game. The Buckeyes will host Central Michigan on Wednesday before opening Big Ten play against Minnesota on Dec. 3.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State blows out Santa Clara, wins Emerald Coast Classic title
