Kyle Young, Duane Washington Lead Ohio State to Emphatic Win Over Maryland
Kyle Young is playing the best basketball of his career. Considering that he's hardly been a regular on the practice floor lately as he tries to get his lower body healthy, his performances for the Buckeyes against Iowa and now Maryland have shined that much brighter.
Thanks to the most productive 2-game stretch of Young's career, Ohio State knocked off the Maryland Terrapins on the road, 73-65. The Buckeyes have now won eight of their last nine games, including five in a row.
Young finished with 16 against Iowa and 18 tonight. All but five of those points came in the second half as the Buckeyes dug themselves out of an early offensive funk to bury the Terps at the XFINITY Center.
Ohio State got off to a slow start offensively, but they never let up on the defensive end of the floor against a sneaky Maryland team that has registered wins this year against Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota.
The game really turned in Ohio State's favor toward the end of the first half. From the 6:24 mark of the first half, Maryland it only one field goal. They closed the first half 1-of-5 with two turnovers in the first half ... they opened the second half 0-for-9, missing all six 3-pointers over the first seven minutes. That means they went 13 minutes from the floor with exactly one made basket.
Maryland led Ohio State 25-19 when that drought started. By the time it ended, the Buckeyes led 46-34 with 12:48 left in the game.
In addition to that, Maryland missed 11 3-balls in a row after hitting the first two to begin the game.
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Meanwhile, the Buckeyes showed why they are worthy of a No. 4 national ranking. They just won a great game on the road in the Big Ten while their leading scorer (E.J. Liddell) didn't hit hit first basket from the floor until there were seven minutes left in regulation. Liddell finished with only seven points and two total baskets from the floor. Mix in the fact that starting guard Justice Sueing didn't score all night and it's fair to wonder how the Buckeyes made up for the lack of scoring from two guys that average more than 26 points per game.
Well, Duane Washington, Justin Ahrens and Young were sensational. Washington finished with 18 of his own and Ahrens scored 11 on 4-of-9 shooting. Seth Towns also provided a couple of big first half 3-pointers and ended the night with six points.
The Buckeyes stretched the lead in the second half to as many as 16 when they led 58-42 with 8:06 to play. Maryland tried to make a late surge when they cut the deficit to nine points, but the Scarlet and Gray responded with a gorgeous driving layup from C.J. Walker and a powerful two-handed dunk from Liddell.
More to come after Chris Holtmann's postgame press conference, which you can watch live below. If you miss it live, you watch it in its entirety here.
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