Men's Basketball Falls at Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Four players reached double figures, but the Appalachian State men's basketball team dropped a 80-67 decision at Ohio State on Saturday evening.

Junior Ronshad Shabazz (Raleigh, N.C./Huntington Prep) paced the Mountaineers (5-7) with 15 points on 7-of-14 (50.0 percent) shooting, three assists and a steal. Shabazz has now reached double figures in every game this season.

Senior Griffin Kinney (Delaware, Ohio/Fork Union Military Academy) had 14 points on 4-of-8 (50.0 percent) shooting and seven rebounds (four offensive). Freshman Justin Forrest (Decatur, Ga./Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy) added 12 points and sophomore Isaac Johnson (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) tallied a season-high tying 12 points on 4-of-5 (80.0 percent) shooting and seven rebounds.

Jae'Sean Tate led four Buckeyes (9-3) in double figures with a game-high 19 points. Keita Bates-Diop added 18 points and eight rebounds and Kaleb Wesson chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Midway through the first half, the Buckeyes were able to go on a 7-0 run to break a 15-15 tie and open a 22-15 edge.
 
Ohio State would use a 6-0 run over the final 2:03 of the first half to take a 40-27 lead into the intermission.
 
After the Buckeyes pushed their lead out to 48-31 early in the second half, the Black and Gold answered with an 8-0 run to pull within nine points at 48-39 with just over 16 minutes to go.
 
Ohio State would push its lead back out to 13 points at 52-39, but the Apps would counter with the next four points to pull back to within single digits at 52-43.
 
The Buckeyes would come right back with a 15-4 spurt to open 67-47 lead with 9:48 remaining, putting the game away.

The Apps finished 25-of-53 (47.2 percent) from the field, while Ohio State shot 30-of-57 (52.6 percent). Appalachian State held a slim 34-30 edge in the rebounding battle.

The Mountaineers will conclude their non-conference schedule on Wednesday, as they hit the road to take on Hampton at 7 p.m.