By: Ryan Cost (CNATI.com) –
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio State guard Evan Turner stood atop the scorer’s table, he hoisted the Big Ten championship trophy in one hand, and gave the “number one” sign with the other to the large group of fans on the Value City Arena floor chanting “One more year! One more year!” It was a symbolic gesture.
Ohio State is the “number one” seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament after capping off its conference season with a sound 73-57 win over Illinois on Tuesday night. The win clinched at least a share of the “number one” spot in the conference standings, and Turner again showed why he is arguably the “number one” player in the nation. Viagra whithout prescription It was a “number one”-type-of-night for the Buckeyes.
“It felt like you could finally live out one of those moments that they show you when you get recruited here,” Turner said after leading the Buckeyes to their third Big Ten title in five years.
The National Player of The Year candidate turned in another star performance on Tuesday night with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Jon Diebler topped the scoring column with 21 points on 7-14 shooting from three-point range.
The win incited a rare court-storming celebration from the fans, giving the players something they’ve been waiting for.
“Watching other schools rush the court, we were like ‘Dang, I just wonder what it would be like if that were to happen,’” forward Dallas Lauderdale said with a grin. “Evan was like, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ So that’s what we did.”
It was a crazy scene as senior night turned into a championship celebration. Turner briefly posed with a fan-made Naismith Trophy with his name on it. Students jumped up and down waving inflatable sharks (a tribute to benchwarming, blogging senior guard Mark “The Shark” Titus) above their heads. And head coach Thad Matta twirled a clipped-up net above his head with a smile.
But it was a scene that was hard to envision a few months ago when the Buckeyes sat at 1-3 in the conference with their superstar player still getting his legs back after missing six games with a broken back.
“I told them last night, ‘You’re not supposed to be in this position,’” Matta said. “I felt like the deck was stacked a little bit against us.”
With their backs against the wall, the Buckeyes finished the season 13-1 in the their final 14 conference games to take the title. Wisconsin was the….
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BuckeyeCountry.net
Buckeyes hope best is yet to come http://bit.ly/9TzysH
Mar 3rd, 2010