Evan Turner leads Ohio St. over Cal

NEW YORK (AP) — Ohio State’s two-game visit to Madison Square Garden was inconsistent to say the least. The Buckeyes’ best player, however, has been consistent all season.

Evan Turner had 26 points and 14 rebounds, his fourth double-double in as many games, and No. 15 Ohio State beat No. 13 California 76-70 on Friday night in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Classic.

The Buckeyes (3-1) went through an opposite experience from their 77-73 loss to No. 6 North Carolina in the semifinals of the tournament that benefits Coaches vs. Cancer.

Ohio State trailed by 19 points in the second half against the Tar Heels and was able to finally start hitting from long range and get within two in the final seconds.

Against the Golden Bears (2-2), the Buckeyes used a 21-3 run spanning halftime to take a 52-28 lead with 15:40 to play. California answered right away with a 17-4 run — two of Ohio State’s points came on a technical foul against Cal coach Mike Montgomery — to get within single digits with 11:28 to go.

The Bears took advantage of Ohio State suddenly having trouble taking care of the ball to get within 63-57 with 5:09 left. But Turner, who had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 turnovers against North Carolina, scored eight of the Buckeyes’ next 10 points.

“He is a guy we have to lean on at times to kind of carry us through,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “I was very pleased with the way he was finishing for us down the stretch.”

Turner became the first Ohio State player to have four straight double-doubles since Terence Dials had five in a row in February 2006 on his way to being Big Ten player of the year.

Turner doesn’t want to hear about anything other than winning.

“It was a great win for the team and a great win for the program and it gives us good momentum,” he said. “It has been a good stretch of games. I am just trying to play hard.”

Jon Diebler added 14 points for Ohio State and Dallas Lauderdale, who is coming off an injury to his right hand, had eight points and seven blocked shots.

Jerome Randle had 26 points for California, one more than he had in the 95-73 loss to Syracuse in the semifinals. He was 6 of 12 from 3-point range.