Buckeyes sink Illinois with 3s from Diebler and Lighty

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Only a few minutes ticked off the clock Saturday before Bill Cole and his Illinois teammates had seen enough of Ohio State’s 3-point accuracy.

But with Jon Diebler and David Lighty each showing a hot hand, the Illini would see a lot more.

No. 13 Ohio State used a barrage of 3s, most of them from Diebler, to take an early 21-10 lead before finishing off Illinois, 72-53.

“Before we looked up we had a big deficit to look at,” Cole said. “They just kept raining those 3s in, and it was kind of downhill from there.”

The Buckeyes were 11 of 22 from 3-point range, including a 6-for-11 performance from Diebler, who led Ohio State with 18 points. Lighty hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored 17.

“We took great shots and, the important part, we made shots,” said Ohio State’s Evan Turner, who was just shy of a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The Buckeyes (20-6, 10-3) held onto a piece of first place in the Big Ten, along with Michigan State. They’ve won nine in a row in the conference and six straight overall.

Illinois (17-9, 9-4) lost for the first time in six games and fell a game behind the conference leaders. The Illini took the court Sunday after back-to-back wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin that put them back in the Big Ten title chase.

After trailing by one early, the Buckeyes used an 18-6 run to finish the Illini off early.

Illinois’ first and last lead (4-3) came just over two minutes into the game on a Mike Davis basket on a fast break.

A single free throw from Turner with 17:40 to play in the first half started the Buckeyes on an 18-6 run that gave them a 21-10 lead. Diebler ended the run with a 3-pointer — his second during that span — and the Buckeyes hit 5 of 6 shots from the field.

From there, the Buckeyes coasted into halftime with a 36-20 lead.

Demetri McCamey led Illinois with nine points — nearly seven short of his average.

The much talked-about matchup between high school teammates McCamey and Turner turned into, for the most part, Turner’s show. Both went to St. Joseph High school in Bellwood, a Chicago suburb.

Turner’s 16 points came mostly in the second half, but eight of his 11 rebounds were in the first 20 minutes and were a big piece of why the Buckeyes led by 16 at the half.

McCamey, on the other hand, didn’t hit his first field goal until there was 11:46 to play. Down 49-34 even after the basket, the game was all but out of reach for Illinois.