Ohio St. stuns No. 1 Illinois
Knight Ridder News Service
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Somewhere in the middle of Value City Arena, hidden among a sea of red and white, stood Matt Sylvester, cheering and jumping, dancing and yelling, minutes after he made a game-winning shot yesterday to end No. 1 Illinois' hopes of a perfect regular season.
Jay Laprete • Associated Press
Sylvester scored a career-high 25 points, the biggest shot a 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left, then helped Ohio State hold on to its upset during the final seconds of a 65-64 win.
Ohio State's Matt Sylvester scored a career-high 25 points yesterday, including the winning 3-pointer against Illinois.
"It feels like a dream," he said later. "I feel like I'm going to wake up on Sunday, and it's all going to be over."
Although the final seconds seemed fit for a made-for-television movie, this was no dream; certainly not to the sellout crowd of 19,200 fans.
The Buckeyes stopped Illinois from becoming the first NCAA team to finish a perfect regular season since UNLV did it in 1991. They also cemented their own identity as the best team no one will talk about in the coming weeks — in December, OSU banned itself from postseason consideration outside of the Big Ten Tournament because of NCAA infractions committed under former coach Jim O'Brien.
To beat Illinois (29-1, 15-1), it took nearly perfect ball handling in the second half. OSU (19-11, 8-8) did not commit a turnover in the final 20 minutes.
After trailing by as much as 12 points in the second half, OSU rallied to 64-62 with 1:43 remaining behind a Sylvester layup.
On defense, Terence Dials blocked Roger Powell Jr. in the post, igniting the crowd.
After Sylvester missed a jump shot, Illinois' Luther Head missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left. Tony Stockman rebounded, and Ohio State coach Thad Matta called timeout.
He stepped in the huddle.
"We're not going halfway here," Matta said. "Gentlemen, we're going for the win."
As he laid out a game plan to put the ball in Sylvester's hands, Matta saw a level of enthusiasm that he hadn't seen this season.
Sylvester knew the game was over. "If I get it," he said, "I'm gonna make it."
