Buckeyes save best for last

OSU shoots 56 percent en route to NIT title

Friday, April 4, 2008 3:07 AM

By Bob Baptist

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kosta Koufos holds up the NIT's most outstanding player award after scoring 22 points in the final.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

David Lighty dishes the ball as Massachusetts' Ricky Harris, left, and Dante Milligan close in. Lighty had eight points.

NEW YORK -- In the fewer than 48 hours he had to prepare to play the Ohio State men's basketball team, Massachusetts coach Travis Ford said he watched clips of 10 to 12 OSU games.

In none of them were the Buckeyes better than they were in person last night.

"It's one of the best games I've seen them play," Ford said. "I've not seen them shoot the ball quite like that."

Ohio State capped its best stretch of games this season with its best game of that stretch in the National Invitation Tournament championship game. The Buckeyes shot 56 percent from the field and scored 56 points in the second half in a 92-85 victory over Massachusetts in Madison Square Garden.

Ohio State averaged nearly 81 points per game in five NIT games, 15 above its Big Ten average, and won four of the five games by double-figure margins. The 92 points against UMass were a season high.

"That's what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT. They walk through it," senior Jamar Butler said with a smile. "Write that..."

Thank you seniors. Congrats on bringing home a Championship. If Kosta comes back this team, with what they've got coming in, is going to be very good, and could bring home an NCAA title.