I think we were mentally set to go the distance. We helped ourselves by scrapping for every loose ball. Before a gleefully amazed crowd of 9,561 in St. John Arena, Ohio State took over at winning time, burying the Mountaineers 14-2 in the game's last five minutes and 41 seconds. They were really calm and handled situations well. Everybody who came in made a contribution, whether it was a defensive play or a piece of a rebound.
Somebody has to step up.
I went from forcing shots to taking good shots, but I kept playing. The Buckeyes did not exactly break out in points after Stringer's basket. But they did manufacture a maddening string of defensive stops, pressuring the shooter and clearing the defensive board when they weren't forcing turnovers. After a West Virginia timeout, Jermaine Tate blocked a shot by Seldon Jefferson to force a shot-clock violation. Then Stringer's partner in freshman backcourt mayhem, Jami Bosley, circled the lane for a driving flip.