Buckeyes are sluggish in victory

COLUMBUS (AP) — Thad Matta even apologized to the fans.

So sluggish was the pace of play in his 18th-ranked Buckeyes’ 60-44 victory Saturday over deliberate Delaware State that he said it was difficult for anybody to watch it.

“No question, I apologize,” the Ohio State coach said. “I’m an impatient person and that was difficult for me. We were pressing and trapping, trying anything we could to push the tempo.”

Delaware State trailed for almost all the game but refused to hurry its shots, suffering five shot-clock violations. Neither team averaged even a shot a minute — and the Buckeyes tried hard to get out and run.

Matta walked into his postgame news conference, smiled and said, “Everybody, wake up.”

William Buford scored 18 points and carried the load in the second half to lead the Buckeyes (9-2), who slowly pulled away. David Lighty added 12 points and Dallas Lauderdale had 11. Ohio State (9-2) shot 60 percent from the field, making 12 of 16 shots from the field (75 percent) in the second half.

Buford also had six assists, three rebounds and two blocked shots. He said he was simply trying to do his part with the Buckeyes still missing injured Evan Turner.

“We feel anybody can score points at any point of the game,” Buford said. “We all can score.”

Frisco Sandidge had 13 points for the Hornets (4-5), who lost their fourth in a row.

“The only chance we probably had to beat this team was probably not to show up,” coach Greg Jackson said. “We were outmanned, out-talented across the board. To even be in the ball game is a tribute to this team.

“The only plan we had was to limit their possessions and keep them out of transition, and I thought for the most part our kids did that. We don’t have the talent that they have.”

It was as close to a stall game as you’ll find during the era of the shot clock. Ohio State was held to a season-low in points despite coming in 10th nationally (84.7 per game).

“To hold them to 60 points is obviously a success for us,” Jackson said. “We had a plan to come in and shorten the game and keep them on the defensive end as much as possible. The only chance we had was to limit possessions and take them out of areas that they like to operate.”

Lauderdale’s dunk off an assist from Lighty gave the Buckeyes their first double-digit lead at 32-21 with 16:42 left. They maintained it for the next 10 minutes before Buford scored seven points in a row and then came up with a loose ball, feeding Jon Diebler for a 3-pointer from the left corner that pushed the lead to 50-36 with 5:16 remaining.

“Certain teams in the country, you get a 10-point lead and that’s like a 25-point lead,” Matta said, crediting the Hornets for stubbornly sticking with their plan.