CBB: Kyle Young's season-high sets tone against Towson

Ohio State got off to a slow start against Towson at home on Wednesday night, just barely taking a 33-32 advantage into halftime as Zed Key nailed a turnaround jumper in the final seconds. The Buckeyes used a couple of big runs in the second half to create some breathing room and hold on for an 85-74 win. Kyle Young set a season-high 18 points and two rebounds against the Tigers after scoring 16 in the win at Penn State over the weekend.

Young knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and connected on 6-7 attempts from the field. EJ Liddell was limited with foul trouble but the Buckeyes were able to survive since Young and Key carried the offensive load for stretches at a time. Key led all scorers at the break with 11 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field. He only attempted one shot in the second half but picked up nine rebounds and two blocks to protect the paint.

"We just needed to raise our level of intensity. We came out there kind of lackadaisical in the first half, turning the ball over and not pressuring them like we wanted to defensively. They were getting way too many easy buckets," Young said in the postgame press conference. "We have to give a lot of credit to them because they came ready to play and played really hard offensively and defensively. We just had to clear some things up at halftime and come out and play hard."

Part of the reason Towson was able to hang around in this game is because the Buckeyes best player wasn’t able to stay on the floor enough. Liddell scored nine points, three rebounds and two assists in the first half. He finished with 15 points on just six shot attempts but committed an alarming seven turnovers. Liddell can’t continue to turn the ball over at that rate with Wisconsin and Kentucky coming up right around the corner.

The Buckeyes were far from perfect in the victory over Towson but the frontcourt continued to lead the way. Justin Aherns also broke out of his shooting slump, scoring 16 points on 5-10 shooting from beyond the arc, including four 3-pointers after halftime. Ohio State will return to the court on Saturday afternoon as Big Ten opponent Wisconsin travels to Columbus. After that, the Buckeyes get a week off before taking on Kentucky on December 18 in Las Vegas.

Photo Credit: FanSided.