COLUMBUS — Ohio State is headed to the Final Four for the second straight season.
Granted this one isn’t as prestigious as the NCAA Tournament’s version in San Antonio in two weekends, but the Buckeyes seemed happy to be heading to New York’s Madison Square Garden for a shot at a championship after a 74-63 win over Dayton in the NIT quarterfinals Wednesday night.
“The NIT is still a tournament and we want to win this thing,” senior guard Jamar Butler said. “There’s still a reward at the end.”
It will be the Buckeyes’ second trip to Madison Square Garden, as they reached the championship game of the preseason NIT.
“We started there and we’re going to finish there,” senior forward Matt Terwilliger said. “We’re just trying to get two more wins on the way out.”
The two seniors got a rousing ovation from the sellout crowd as they were pulled from the game with a minute left. Butler acknowledged the final walk off the Value City Arena floor was special, but it wasn’t the final moment of his career.
“We still have 80 minutes left to play,” said Butler, who finished with 12 points and a game-high seven assists, matching Dayton’s team total. “I don’t want to think about the end just yet. I wish we had 80 games left to play.”
The teams played a close first half that included six ties and four lead changes.
Ohio State freshman center Kosta Koufos led the Buckeyes (22-13) with nine points in the half — including a baseline 3-pointer to open the scoring — and senior forward Othello Hunter was a monster under the basket with a team-high four rebounds and three blocked shots, including a denial of a two-handed dunk by Dayton’s Charles Little.
The Flyers (23-11) were led by senior guard Brian Roberts, a Wooden Award finalist who had a game-high 11 points during the first half, which included a 3-for-5 performance from behind the 3-point line.
Dayton built the largest first-half lead, 24-19 at 4:29, but the Buckeyes rallied to trail 31-30 at the half.
“At halftime, I told them this is a huge game for (Dayton),” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. “I said, ‘They kicked your tails for a while in the first half.’”
In the second half, the Buckeyes displayed the tenacity that made them runaway winners in their first two NIT games.
Freshman guard Evan Turner sparked an early run with a pair of baskets and a trio of momentum-building defensive rebounds. Then the Buckeyes began bombing the Flyers from long range, with freshman John Diebler hitting a pair of threes and Butler adding another, as Ohio State built a 49-37 lead less than nine minutes into the second half.
From that point, the Buckeyes were content trading baskets and miniruns the rest of the way.
“We made a change to play small because they were driving our bigs along the baseline,” Matta said. “We also lost Roberts a couple of times and I was ready to kill a couple guys.”
Koufos finished with a game-high 21 points, Turner added 11 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and Diebler finished with 10 points off the bench.
Ohio State moves on to face No. 2 seed Mississippi in a Tuesday night semifinal, while a pair of No. 2 seeds — Florida and Massachusetts — will battle in the other semifinal.
Terwilliger, who said he wasn’t even aware which other three teams were headed to New York, knew that the win over the Flyers was important for him because he grew up only 18 miles away from Dayton.
“It was definitely good to beat them,” he said. “There aren’t too many places around Troy I would’ve been able to go without hearing it.”

Notes

The Buckeyes hold just a 4-2 series advantage over Dayton, including a 2-1 mark in Columbus. The first game in the series took place in 1934 and the last one was on Dec. 17, 1988 — which Ohio State won 104-76 on the road.
** Butler became the 25th player in Ohio State history to reach 500 points in a season after a 20-point performance against Cal in the Buckeyes’ second-round win Monday night. Freshman center Greg Oden was the 24th player to accomplish the feat last season.
** Wednesday’s game was played on the 22nd anniversary of the Buckeyes’ lone championship in the NIT. Ohio State defeated Wyoming 73-63 at Madison Square Garden on March 26, 1986. Dennis Hopson — Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer — led the way with 26 points while Brad Sellers added 17 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
** After going 5-0 against in-state opponents last season — Kent State, Youngstown State, Cleveland State, Cincinnati and Xavier — the Flyers were only the second Ohio team the Buckeyes faced this season. OSU defeated the Vikings 80-63 on Dec. 18 at Quicken Loans Arena.
** Dayton began the season 14-1, before going 7-9 to close out the regular season. The Flyers were making their 21st NIT appearance, capturing NIT titles in 1962 and ’68. They defeated Cleveland State 66-57 in this year’s opening round.
** The Buckeyes are 30-13 all time against members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

Ohio State 74, Dayton 63

DAYTON (23-11): Binnie 1-4 0-0 2, Huelsman 2-4 0-0 4, Roberts 8-20 0-0 20, Sandoval 2-7 1-1 5, Johnson 3-5 2-2 9, Perry 0-1 0-0 0, Warren 0-3 0-0 0, Little 3-7 4-6 10, Wright 5-9 2-3 12, Searcy 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 24-60 10-14 63.
OHIO STATE (22-13): Hunter 2-3 1-2 5, Koufos 9-11 2-2 21, Butler 5-14 0-0 12, Turner 3-7 5-6 11, Lighty 2-4 4-4 9, Wallace 0-0 0-2 0, Hill 0-0 2-3 2, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Madsen 0-0 0-0 0, Diebler 3-5 2-2 10, Titus 0-0 0-0 0, Terwilliger 1-3 2-2 4, Lauderdale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 18-23 74.
Halftime—Dayton 31-30. 3-Point Goals—Dayton 5-16 (Roberts 4-9, Johnson 1-1, Perry 0-1, Sandoval 0-2, Binnie 0-3), Ohio St. 6-16 (Diebler 2-4, Butler 2-8, Koufos 1-1, Lighty 1-2, Turner 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Dayton 37 (Little 7), Ohio St. 26 (Turner 8). Assists—Dayton 7 (Binnie, Little 2), Ohio St. 18 (Butler 7). Total Fouls—Dayton 21, Ohio St. 16. A—19,049.
 

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