LAHAINA, Hawaii — A Buckeye State clash between schools a couple hours’ drive apart was decided thousands of miles and five time zones away.
Ohio State got the better of Cincinnati, 81-53, in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational consolation semifinals at the Lahaina Civic Center on Tuesday afternoon.
The teams stopped short of calling it a rivalry afterward.
“It was a little weird to flying out here to Hawaii and playing them,” said OSU forward Zed Key. “They’re in-state, an hour and a half down the road. But it’s just another game. It’s another team in front of us. Just trying to get to our goal.”
The immediate goal for the Buckeyes (4-1) is Wednesday’s 9:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. Eastern) fifth-place game against No. 21 Texas Tech (4-1). It’s an opportunity for OSU to leave the islands with a 2-1 performance — as it has in each of its previous three Maui appearances — following a loss to No. 17 San Diego State in the tournament opener.
Key scored a game-high 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Guard Bruce Thornton supplied 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting and forward Brice Sensabaugh also had 17 points.
Justice Sueing Jr., a forward from Honolulu who began his collegiate career at Cal — and competed with the Golden Bears in the 2017 Maui Invitational as a true freshman — had 11 points and six rebounds.
Thornton said the efficient win over Cincinnati (3-3) of the American Athletic Conference — the Bearcats head to the Big 12 next season — was important. The Buckeyes led by 11 points at halftime and extended that to 24 on a 3-pointer by Thornton with 9:20 to play. For good measure, OSU scored the game’s last eight points.
“It means a lot. It’s an in-state battle,” Thornton said. “So, who is not trying to be the best in their state? I feel like we showed everybody what we can do, even after a tough loss against San Diego State.”
It was dubbed the “Battle of Ohio” on social media.
Forward Viktor Lakhin, who led Cincinnati with 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting, downplayed the matchup.
“There’s nothing for me personally special that we play another Ohio team. Every game is another opportunity to win,” he said.
The biggest difference was in ball control. OSU turned it over just six times and parlayed 14 CU turnovers into 24 points. OSU also grabbed offensive rebounds (19) on more than half of its 34 missed shots.
The coaches of both teams, OSU’s Chris Holtmann and CU’s Wes Miller, said they are not opposed to future nonconference matchups. The schools, despite their proximity, have not played each other on a regular basis over the years. OSU now owns a 9-4 led, but CU won back-to-back Final Four matchups in 1961 and 1962.
OSU and Cincinnati played a home-and-home series over two years, 2018 and 2019, Holtmann noted, soon after he got the job. The Buckeyes won both contests by scores of 64-56.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for that (Cincinnati) program,” Holtmann said. “So many guys, Coach (Bob) Huggins, to Mick (Cronin), on down the line, who have had really good teams there. So we played John (Brannen) one year and played Mick the year before. And, yeah, we want to schedule teams out of conference, high-major teams like Cincinnati that we really believe are going to play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Said Miller, “I think you got to challenge yourself in your non-conference schedule to see where you stand amongst the good programs across the country. And if you can find a way to do that regionally, that’s always neat, because of the fan interest and things of that nature. You get in some really cool environments.”
Both fan bases were well-represented Tuesday in the intimate, 2,400-seat Civic Center. Cincinnati brought its mascot and cheer team this week.
Cincinnati faces winless Louisville (0-5) in the seventh-place game at 2:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Eastern).
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.
