By: Glenn S. Moore

It could have been the bright lights of New York City. It could have been the history of Madison Square Garden. Or it could have been just the fact that the Ohio State Buckeyes were outplayed, outhustled, and outshot by the defending NCAA National Champions, North Carolina Tar Heels in their 2K Sports Classic: Coaches vs. Cancer semifinal matchup. At least for the first 38 minutes. The 15th ranked Buckeyes, shooting just 29% from 3 point range, lost to the 6th ranked Tar Heels, 77 – 73 and will play the Golden Bears of California tonight in the consolation game.

The Buckeyes didn’t seem to be comfortable from the start, trailing by 10 early on. In both teams’ first test of the season, Ohio State didn’t score their first bucket until four minutes into the ball game on a Dallas Lauderdale dunk. North Carolina didn’t start on fire as well, but used mini spurts here and there to eventually take a 38-24 lead at the half.

At the half, North Carolina had shot 48% from the floor, while the Buckeyes struggled, shooting a lowly 29%. Going one for ten from three point land didn’t help that percentage as well.

Everytime it seemed that Ohio State was gaining momentum, North Carolina would answer with their own run. The Buckeyes never got the Tar Heels lead to single digits. That is, until the final minutes of the ballgame.

The outside shots Ohio State was missing during the game were finally falling in towards the end and they came within two points after being down by nineteen at the 10:23 mark. Jon Diebler, David Lightly, and William Buford all hit 3s down the stretch to get the Buckeyes back in the game. But Larry Drew II of North Carolina, who missed four of his previous six free throws in the final minute, then made two from the stripe with 11 seconds left for the final score.

Diebler had 17 points for Ohio State, including 3 of 10 from 3-point range, which didn’t help their overall team total of 6 of 21 from downtown. Evan Turner had a triple-double he would like to forget about. It included 23 points and 11 rebounds but also 10 of the 16 Ohio State turnovers.

“It was a rough night, obviously,” Turner said. “I’m bumped and bruised and I’ll be back tomorrow.”

But after a dismal first half, the Buckeyes can hope to build off the last 2 minutes of the game. They not only had a chance to win the game against the defending champions, but did it after being down in double digits for most of the ballgame.

“We obviously made a great comeback,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “I thought the first half we couldn’t get the ball in the basket. We had some decent looks, the shots weren’t falling for us…Hopefully we learned a lesson there getting ourselves ready to go right from the start.”

The Buckeyes time in New York City and playing at Madison Square Garden doesn’t get any easier, as they will face Pac-10 favorite and 12th ranked California, who lost to Syracuse in the first game of the nights doubleheader.