COLUMBUS, Ohio - Years from now, they will only remember The Shot.
What a pity. Third-ranked Ohio State's 97-95 double overtime victory Sunday over No 4 Indiana should be preserved in a museum somewhere as a testament to intensity and skill.
Future generations should be able to see huffing and puffing Treg Lee picking Calbert Cheaney's pocket in the waning moments of regulation, and Jim Jackson making most of his career-high 30 points with Hoosiers in his face. School kids could learn something from watching how Indiana carved out a 42-40 halftime lead with only a single offensive rebound.
Coaches could get plenty of mileage from showing how Ohio State adjusted for the loss of point guard Mark Baker and still controlled the tempo when it counted. Statisticians could get dizzy counting the 20 ties and 24 lead changes.
But when all those details have faded, the 13,276 who watched at St. John Arena will remember how Lee's baseline jumper with four seconds left in the second overtime cleared the path for Ohio State to claim the Big Ten championship.
With five games left, the Buckeyes (22-1, 12-1) will win or share the title unless they lose twice. With the league championship probably comes a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana (22-3, 10-2) needs some help to get back into the conference-title picture.
"It was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been a part of," Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers said. "We just kept clawing away, especially in the second half. The intensity we showed was tremendous. I don't see this clinching the title, but it's a huge win for this program."
It was a victory made all the more improbable by the way Ohio State tried every defensive trick in the book in the first half but still could not stop Indiana's red-hot shooting. Bob Knight played 10 men in the first half and the Hoosiers still shot 63 percent, which kind of negates the need for offensive rebounds.
Even after Baker went down at the midway point with a sprained right ankle, the Buckeyes stayed close and even led by shooting well (50 percent) and employing a full-court trap that exposed Indiana's average ballhandling skills. Indiana committed eight turnovers in the first half, mostly on transition.
"Their press caused us some problems, but we shot so well it wasn't as big a factor as it might have been," Knight said. "But in the second half, we got into a situation of them answering every bucket we made."
With freshman sensation Damon Bailey (32 points on 11-of-15 shooting, no turnovers in 46 minutes) Cheaney (26) and Eric Anderson (20) leading the way, Indiana traded baskets with Jackson, Perry Carter (22) and Jamaal Brown (17) for much of the second half. In the last five minutes, the Hoosiers pulled away, stretching their lead to 77-72 when Bailey canned a free throw with 1:09 left.
Then Ohio State defined itself by what it did not do. Trailing by three (77-74) with half a minute left and the shot clock winding down, the Buckeyes refused to foul.
"We wanted a turnover," Jackson said. "We were counting on a turnover."
Lee delivered, stripping the ball from Cheaney on the dribble and sinking two free throws after being hacked by Cheaney. After Bailey made one of two free throws with 12 seconds left, Jackson's jumper in the lane with one second left sent it into overtime tied at 78.
In the first overtime, Indiana's Chris Reynolds could have been the hero. But his hurried, off-balance 18-footer missed badly at the buzzer. In the second OT, Anderson bricked one with a 95-95 score and Ohio State rebounded. Jackson drove the lane, then hit Lee with a perfect pass at the baseline, and Lee canned it. It was similar to the shot Lee converted to send the game into the second overtime.
"It was the same set play," Lee said. "We knew if we kept plugging we could win this thing."
Copyright 1991 by Keith Dunnavant