Ohio State top No. 21 Tech on final day at Maui Jim Maui Invitational

LAHAINA, Hawaii – Daniel Batcho led No. 21 Texas Tech with a career-high 21 points and Kevin Obanor added 19 in an 80-73 loss to Ohio State in the final game for the Red Raiders at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Wednesday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Tech (4-2) went 1-2 at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational after the defeat and will now host Georgetown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30 at the United Supermarkets Arena in its next game. The Red Raiders stayed with the Buckeyes (5-1) throughout the game but were never able to get the lead in the second half as OSU went 18-for-18 at the free-throw line and finished with eight 3-pointers.

“I give a lot of credit to Ohio State,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. “Looking at the stat sheet, they were just a little better than us in every category, and that’s kind of how the game went. They’re a really good team, very hard to guard and well-coached, good players. I think they’re going to have a great year. This is another game we can learn from.”

Batcho had a strong three days in Maui, finishing each game by setting new career-highs including against OSU where he had 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting along with going 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. He added six rebounds, two assists and a steal. He had his previous career-high of 17 points on Monday in the loss to No. 10 Creighton and was coming off a career-best 12 rebounds on Tuesday in the win over Louisville.

“I feel like we just need to be more focused,” Batcho said. “That’s coming to our age because we’re really young. That’s not an excuse, but it’s true. I think we improved, like we learned a lot from this tournament. So that’s what I’m glad about it.”

Obanor would have his season-high 19 points against the Buckeyes where he was 7-for-12 from the field, including going 2-for-4 on 3-pointers. Obanor played over 35 minutes and also added four rebounds and two steals. Jaylon Tyson and De’Vion Harmon both finished with 10 points from the starting lineup, while Pop Isaacs finished with eight points and a season-high five assists. Harmon led Tech with six assists which matched his career-high. Tech’s bench was limited to five points with Elijah Fisher having three points and KJ Allen scoring two.

The Red Raiders finished the game shooting 50.9 percent, including going 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) on 3-pointers. Tech was 12 of 13 at the free-throw line where OSU was 18 of 18. OSU finished the game at 51.9 percent shooting and were 8-for-20 from beyond the arc. Justice Sueing led the Buckeyes with 33 points after going 12-for-19 from the field and 8 of 8 at the line, while former West Virginia guard Sean McNeil went for 13 points with two 3-pointers. Sueing also added eight rebounds and five assists.

“He’s a guy that we talked a lot about,” Adams said of Sueing. “He was really good. “They’ve got so many players that you have to focus in on that could get 15, 20 points. Just a very, very explosive offense.”

Tech trailed 41-37 at halftime after fighting back from being down by as many as 13 points midway through the opening half. Obanor led the Red Raiders with 11 points after hitting two 3-pointers, while Batcho had 10 points to go along with a team-high three rebounds. Isaacs added six points and Harmon had four after making a layup at the halftime buzzer to cut the deficit to only four. Tech shot 13-for-24 from the field and was 4-for-8 on 3-pointers after 20 minutes, while OSU was 16-for-30 from the field and 5-for-13 on 3-pointers. The Red Raiders went 7 of 8 at the free-throw line in the half but were being outscored by a 16-12 margin in the paint. It was the first halftime deficit this season for Tech. Sensabaugh and Sueing had 10 points each for the Buckeyes while McNeil had nine. Sensabaugh and McNeil both had two 3-pointers going into the break.

“I thought the biggest difference there were just times where we, in pressure, tough situations we didn’t get a blockout or had a turnover or just didn’t execute like we’re supposed to,” Adams said. “Their experience showed at that time and our inexperience was a big difference in the game.”

KEY MOMENTS
First Half
Tech won the tip and scored on its opening possession with a layup from Isaacs for a 2-0 lead… Ohio State would also score on its opening possession
Tyson hit Tech’s first 3-pointer off an assist from Harmon for a 5-2 lead
Batcho scored his first points of the game on a layup to make it 7-7 (15:21) off Harmon’s second assist of the game
McNeil hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Ohio State to take a 13-7 lead into the first media timeout of the game… He came out of the timeout and made a layup to push the Buckeye lead to eight before a Sueing putback made it a 17-7 lead
Batcho stopped the 10-0 run by the Buckeyes with his second career 3-pointer to bring the game to 17-10 with 12:48 remaining until halftime… Batcho was leading Tech with five points on 2-for-4 shooting seven minutes into the game
OSU pushed the lead to 23-10 with a Sensabaugh 3-pointer… The Buckeyes were 4-for-7 from beyond the arc to begin the game at that point which was part of a 16-3 run
Harmon got Tech back on the board with a midrange jumper for a 23-12 score (10:20) followed by an Obanor layup and 3-pointer to bring it back to nine (8:12)… The baskets were Obanor’s first two makes of the game while OSU had gone 1-for-7 during that span
Fisher scored his first points of the game with a layup and then a free throw to convert an and-one to cut the OSU to only 28-23 (5:41)
Obanor hit his second 3-pointer and Tech’s fourth to take the score to 33-28 with 3:48 until halftime… Obanor had 11 points after the long-range 3-pointer
Isaacs hit a runner to cut OSU’s lead to 37-33 with 1:44 on the clock… He was 3-for-4 from the field and had six points after the shot to cut it to four
Batcho got to double figures with a pair of free throws that gave him 10 points and brought the score down to 39-35… Tech was 7-for-8 from the line after he made those two while OSU was 4 of 4 on free throws
Harmon would hit a layup at the halftime buzzer to send the Red Raiders to halftime down 41-37 after they had trailed by as many as 13 in the opening half
Second Half
Obanor scored Tech’s first basket of the second half with a second-chance layup after OSU had also scored on its opening possession… Tech had eight second chance points after the basket
Ohio State took a 52-41 lead on a Sueing 3-pointer to push a 6-0 run
Batcho stopped a 0-for-6 shooting streak and 6-0 OSU run with a layup and free throw to make it a 52-44 deficit… Batcho had 15 points after the basket that was followed by Allen making his first basket to cut it to six (12:11)
Harmon hit a tough inside shot to give him six points and cut the game to 54-48 before OSU hit another 3-pointer on the other end to push its lead back to nine with 11 minutes to play… He would hit another jumper two possessions later to get up to eight points and make it 59-52 with 9:28 remaining in the game
Batcho matched his career-high with 17 points with a lob dunk off an assist from Harmon to cut it to 62-54 with 8:48 on the clock… He was 5-for-8 from the field after the dunk
Harmon followed with a jumper to get Tech to within 62-56 and him to 10 points before Obanor got the Red Raiders to within four with an inside shot… Tech had made 8 of 9 field goals after Obanor’s basket to get to 17 points
Tyson drilled a 3-pointer off a Harmon assist to cut the deficit to 65-61 (5:27)… It was his second 3-pointer of the game and made Tech 5-for-14 on 3-pointers
Tyson would follow up a missed layup with a putback to make it 70-63 with 3:32 remaining… Tyson had eight points and five rebounds after the play that cut it to seven
Batcho got to 19 points and five rebounds with a putback to make it a 70-65 game with 1:58 on the clock… The 19 points established a new career-high and came with him at 6 of 9 shooting and 6-for-7 at the line at that point in the game
Obanor had a dunk off an in-bound play to cut OSU’s lead to 74-69 (0:45) and get him to 19 points… After a pair of OSU free throws, Batcho had another dunk off an assist from Isaacs… The Buckeyes led 76-71 after the Batcho dunk that took him to 21 points with 26 seconds to play

Release provided by WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics