Ohio St. to meet Kent St. in finale

Ron Lewis scored 27 points to lead the Bucks past Loyola of Chicago.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ron Lewis scored the first seven points of each half for No. 7 Ohio State, finishing with 27 to lead the Buckeyes to an 87-75 victory over Loyola of Chicago Saturday night in the BCA Classic.
Ohio State (2-0) will face upstate neighbor Kent State (2-0) in the championship game tonight. The Golden Flashes beat IUPUI 81-74.
Lewis topped his previous Ohio State best of 26 points set against Penn State last season. He scored 34 points in the 2003-04 season opener for Bowling Green.
Lewis also had 11 rebounds and three assists. He was 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 3-pointers, and also made all but one of his eight free throws.
Daequan Cook, coming a 22-point game the night before in his freshman debut, added 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Ivan Harris had 11 points.
Blake Schilb had 19 points, J.R. Blount 15, Leon Young 12 and Majak Kou 11 for the Ramblers (1-1).
Good test
Loyola of Chicago figured to provide a lot of problems for the young Buckeyes, who start two freshmen and a junior-college transfer. The Ramblers had all five starters back from a 19-11 season. They are favored to win the Horizon League, just like the Buckeyes were picked to top the Big Ten -- based mostly on the presence of the injured Greg Oden.
Oden, a dominating 7-foot freshman center, is still recuperating after right wrist surgery. He is expected to be out until Jan. 1. Oden spent much of the game sitting on the bench, a towel draped over his head while he wore a scarlet-and-gray brace on his wrist.
In Friday's 107-69 opening-round win over VMI, the Buckeyes were almost forced to keep up with the fullcourt-pressing, fast-breaking Keydets. Against Loyola, Ohio State's defense set the pace.
The Buckeyes built a lead by harassing the Ramblers' perimeter players, picking up points in transition and hitting their own open shots.
Lewis had 16 points at the half -- including the first seven in a 12-4 burst to start the game -- as Ohio State went up 44-29 at the break.
He started the same way in the second half -- his fast-break layup off a blind, backwards pass by Mike Conley Jr. putting the Buckeyes up 51-33.
The lead never fell below 10 points again.
The Buckeyes hit 59 percent of their shots in the second half and finished at 52 percent. They held a 39-30 edge on the boards.
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