Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
Wildcats Fall To Buckeyes, 72-64
2/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Vedran Vukusic led a valiant Northwestern comeback effort Wednesday night at Ohio State. The sophomore forward scored 24 points and knocked down a career-high six three-pointers. The only problem was, Ohio State had a player who matched him shot for shot beyond the arc.
Tony Stockman played his best game as a Buckeye, scoring 22 points with five assists and six steals to lead Ohio State to a 72-64 victory over Northwestern (8-11, 3-5 Big Ten) on Wednesday night.
The Buckeyes (11-10, 3-5 Big Ten) made just 4 of 15 free throws in the first 39 minutes, but were 6 of 6 in the final minute to seal a win that was in peril.
Stockman was not permitted to go to the Iowa game 10 days ago by coach Jim O'Brien because of a bad attitude and poor practice habits. But since then he has keyed two victories, totaling 17 points, five assists and two steals in Saturday's 65-59 road upset of No. 21 Purdue.
Stockman, a junior transfer from Clemson, made 8 of 12 shots from the field including six of 10 treys to lead the Buckeyes to their best shooting night of the season. They hit 57.4 percent, making 27 of 47 from the field and 8 of 17 behind the arc.
The 22 points was Stockman's high at Ohio State. Terence Dials and Velimir Radinovic each added 14 points and eight rebounds, with Brandon Fuss-Cheatham scoring 11 points.
Vukusic was aided by Jitim Young, who added 13 points, and Mohamed Hachad who had 11.
Stockman scored the first eight points of the second half to give Ohio State a 39-28 lead.
However, what grew to become a 15-point lead melted to six after big men Vukusic and Vince Scott each hit 3-pointers from the top of the circle to cut the lead to 50-44 with 7:29 remaining.
Stockman quelled that rally by hitting 3-pointers from each corner on Ohio State's next two possessions, but again the Wildcats came back. Vukusic hit three 3-pointers in a row, and Scott added another to cut the lead to 61-58 with 2:52 left. Scott finished the game with a career-high eight points in 16 minutes.
After the teams traded two points apiece, Stockman once again had the answer. Coming out of a timeout, and with less than two minutes left, he was left open near the top of the circle, and buried his final trey. That proved to be the dagger, as NU got no closer than four points down the stretch.
Northwestern will be back home Saturday afternoon, facing two-time defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin. Tipoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. CST at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
