Football
Associated Press 18y

Relieved Buckeyes advance to play Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS - The cloud of uncertainty is off Ohio State. Win or lose in the Big Ten tournament, the seventh-ranked Buckeyes know they're headed to the NCAA tourney and a chance for the national championship.

The Buckeyes were slapped with three years' probation on Friday, shortly before a 63-56 victory over Penn State sent them into the conference semifinals Saturday against Indiana. But they won't be barred from the NCAA tournament.

"It is the first day in 18 or 19 months that we actually know where we are," said Thad Matta, who became Ohio State coach after Jim O'Brien was fired two years ago.

"As much as we speculated, followed through and did the case studies, it finally came to an end today. To have this burden lifted off of us, the smoke cleared. My wife cried tears of joy because I have been tough to deal with for a long, long time. It would have been a devastating blow had it gone the other way."

The NCAA announced the sanctions against Ohio State, the tourney's top seed, an hour before the game. It ended the investigation by the NCAA but will require Ohio State to expunge its results from four NCAA tournament appearances - including the 1999 Final Four. The university also will have to repay almost $800,000 in tournament revenues from 1999-02 because of the ineligibility of former player Boban Savovic.

But, most important to the players - none of whom played for Ohio State at the time of the violations - their eligibility for the postseason is not affected.

"When we heard it this morning before the game, we were happy," said Ron Lewis, who led Ohio State with 17 points. "Coach told us in the locker room when we got here that there wasn't going to be anything in the NCAA tournament against us.

"We really didn't focus on it. We really wanted just to keep playing hard and keep playing as a team. We knew everything was going to play out how it played out, but we weren't going to slack because of some rule that somehow went against us."

Indiana, the fifth seed, advanced with a 61-56 victory over Wisconsin.

In another quarterfinal, second-seeded Iowa got a record-tying six 3-pointers and 26 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals from Jeff Horner in a 67-57 victory over Minnesota. The Hawkeyes (23-8) advanced to the semifinals against sixth-seeded Michigan State (22-10), which upset No. 9 Illinois 61-56.

Indiana (18-10) likely clinched an at-large NCAA bid with its victory.

"You never know what's going to happen on Selection Sunday. But our goal is to win this tournament and worry about the next one when it comes," said Marshall Strickland, who had 16 points.

Indiana beat Ohio State 81-79 in their only regular-season game this season, the first of just four losses for the Buckeyes (24-4).

"The last game was a good battle. I'm looking forward to it," said Marco Killingsworth, who led the Hoosiers with 20 points and 12 rebounds against Wisconsin (19-11).

Ohio State missed 11 of its first 13 shots against Penn State and needed a flurry of 3-pointers to rally from a 12-point deficit in the second half.

The Buckeyes never led until there were less than 6 minutes to go, when a 3-pointer by Jamar Butler put them up 50-49. Ohio State had seven 3s - including two by Lewis and two by Matt Sylvester- during a 28-11 run, and two free throws by Je'Kel Foster sealed the game with 24 seconds to go.

Jamelle Cornley had 18 points for Penn State (15-14).

Terence Dials, the Big Ten player of the year, added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes.

"It's kind of a relief, from the standpoint of the media," Dials said of the NCAA ruling. "We were playing with the mind-set that we were going to the postseason anyway. That's what we were preparing for. ... I would have been really shocked if they would have said we couldn't go (to the NCAA tournament)."

The Iowa-Minnesota game was largely a shootout between Horner and the Gophers' Vincent Grier, who had 29 points and set a tournament record with 13 field goals, which included all but one of Minnesota's field goals in the second half.

"Once he (Grier) gets going, look out," Horner said. "He's definitely one of the best in the Big Ten. In the first half, I had to score to keep us in it, then a lot of guys responded in the second half, and that was huge."

Michigan State produced the day's only upset. The Spartans won their second straight after finishing the regular season with three losses in four games.

Seniors Paul Davis and Maurice Ager each scored 16 points, and Davis had eight rebounds to help avert a repeat of last Saturday's 75-68 loss to Illinois.

James Augustine had 16 points and 15 rebounds for Illinois to become the first Illini player to top 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career. The last Big Ten player to achieve the feat was Indiana's Alan Henderson in 1995.

Illinois coach Bruce Weber acknowledged that his team played poorly and Michigan State appeared more motivated.

"We beat them four times in a row, we beat them on Senior Day, how would you feel?" Weber said. "We embarrassed them last week on their court. They had all the motivation. Of all the teams I didn't want to come back and play a week later ... and they're a good team."

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