The first Buckeye-on-Buckeye game of The Basketball Tournament sent two former Ohio State players packing.
Even though Big X held the lead for the majority of Wednesday afternoon's game, Red Scare – which features former Ohio State center Trevor Thompson – pulled away with a 17-6 run to end the game, surpassing the Elam Ending target score of 75 to earn a 77-68 victory at the fan-free Nationwide Arena.
Ryan Mikesell drilled the game-ending triple to jettison CJ Jackson, Andrew Dakich and the rest of Big X from the tournament. Thompson's Red Scare team will now either face Carmen's Crew or House of 'Paign on Friday in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
Thompson was one of four Red Scare players to score in double-figures, managing 12 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes. Darrell Davis led the winning team with 15 points.
The back-and-forth game featured 11 lead changes, though Big X led for the majority of it.
Big X came out of the gates firing with Ward knocking down the first shot, which sparked the beginning of a 10-5 run. Red Scare, however, had five separate players score 10 unanswered points late in the first quarter and continued the momentum into the second quarter, when it scored the first two buckets out of the break to grab an eight-point lead. Big X's subsequent eight-point run tied it up with 5:39 remaining in the first half, and they battled neck-and-neck until halftime.
Though Big X held the lead for all but 14 seconds of the third quarter, it remained unable to break away from Red Scare, which mounted a late comeback.
Jackson struggled from the field, hitting 2-of-8 shots for eight points, four rebounds and two assists. Dakich, acting as a player-coach, went scoreless in 15 minutes. Trevon Hughes did most of the damage for Big X, scoring 20 points, but the outburst wasn't enough.
While Dakich and Jackson go home, Thompson moves on. Only two teams with former Buckeyes remain in this summer's TBT.
