Instacap: Florida Atlantic Stuns Ohio State, 79-77 in Overtime

By Tim Shoemaker on December 6, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Ohio State's Marc Loving drives against Florida Atlantic.
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Ohio State talked all season about how it had an added emphasis on non-conference games after dropping a few last season. The Buckeyes avoided those same disasters at the begging of this season.  

Until Tuesday.

Florida Atlantic stunned Ohio State at Value City Arena, 79-77, in overtime. The Owls entered the game just 2-5 on the season and were ranked 240th in the country by KenPom. 

  1 2 OT F
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 31 40 8 79
OHIO STATE 32 39 6 77

Nick Rutherford's runner in the lane with one second on the clock was the game-winning basket and left the Buckeyes stunned as the Owls' bench went crazy.

Ohio State scored the first four points of overtime thanks to a Kam Williams floater and a Jae'Sean Tate putback. Florida Atlantic's Adonis Filer responded, however, with a step back 3-poniter to get the Owls within one midway through the extra frame.

A pair of free throws from Marc Loving stretched the Buckeyes' lead back to three with just over two minutes to play before Nick Rutherford hit a floater in the lane to again bring FAU within one. 

After the Owls got a stop, William Pfister split a pair of free throws to tie the game. Ohio State then forced it over on two consecutive possessions and then Rutherford hit the game-winner.

Down by three points with 30 seconds to play, Jae'Sean Tate hit a pair of free throws to get the Buckeyes within 70-69. Nick Rutherford split a pair of free throws to leave the door open and after Kam Williams missed an open 3-pointer, Trevor Thompson snagged the rebound and got fouled. 

Thompson made both free throws to tie the game at 71-all to send the game to overtime.

OHIO STATE STAT FLORIDA ATLANTIC
77 POINTS 79
28–67 (42%) FGM-FGA (PCT.) 27–62 (44%)
4–20 (20%) 3PM-3PA (PCT.) 10–25 (40%)
17–22 (77%) FTM-FTA (PCT.) 15–22 (68%)
12 TURNOVERS 12
42 TOTAL REBOUNDS 41
12 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS 9
30 DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS 32
30 BENCH POINTS 26
5 BLOCKS 2
4 STEALS 4
16 ASSISTS 10

Ohio State led by as many as 11 points in the second half after a Jae'Sean Tate basket stretched it out to 58-47, but once again the Buckeyes failed to put a team away as Florida Atlantic responded by scoring the next 14 points to take a 61-58 lead with just under six minutes to play. 

Ohio State had just a one-point lead at halftime against a lower-level mid-major for the second-straight game. The Buckeyes led the Owls at the break, 32-31, because of some poor shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

After starting the game just 1-for-11 from the field, Ohio State finished the first half shooting just 36.7 percent from the floor. The Buckeyes were also just 3-for-10 from behind the 3-point line. Tate and Williams were a combined 2-for-12 from the floor in the first half as Ohio State missed all kinds of shots on the interior. 

Lyle led the way with a first-half stat line of seven points, five assists and four rebounds. Despite the poor shooting from the floor, Tate finished with six first-half points while Micah Potter and Keita Bates-Diop each scored five.

It was Bates-Diop's first action after missing the last five games with an ankle sprain. The junior forward finished the game with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting. 

Next up for Ohio State is a date with Connecticut on Saturday. The Buckeyes host the Huskies at 6 p.m. at Value City Arena. 

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