COLUMBUS, Ohio – The William & Mary men's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped at Big Ten foe Ohio State, 97-62, on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes (8-3) shot 64.8 percent from the floor and hit a season-high 11 3-pointers, to counter the Tribe's 51.9 percent shooting effort.
 
The Tribe (6-3) jumped out of the gates, hitting eight of its first 10 from the floor and led 16-13 following a Nathan Knight jumper at the 14:14 mark. The Green and Gold held a 20-19 cushion after senior guard David Cohn found classmate Connor Burchfield for a lay-up two minutes later. Knight (8), Cohn (7) and Burchfield (5) combined for the Tribe's first 20 points.
 
Ohio State responded with a 27-4 run to open up as much as a 22-point cushion, 46-24. The Buckeyes scored eight-straight points to take a 27-20 advantage and force a W&M timeout at the midway through the first half. The turning point came with 7:49 left in the opening frame when Knight picked up a back-to-back fouls in a 13-second span, giving him three for the game and forcing him to the bench. The Buckeyes scored 11-straight points, including six from Keita Bates-Diop, to open up a 39-22 advantage.
 
W&M scored seven-straight points to end the first half and start the second. Cohn, who converted an acrobatic lay-up at the half-time horn, found Knight for a lay-up  just 21 seconds into the final period to close the gap to 48-34. Ohio State answered by scoring 14 of the game's next 17 points to put it out of reach.
 
Individual Player Spotlight
Senior point guard David Cohn led a trio of Tribe players in double figures, tallying 15 points to go along with five assists. Sophomore Nathan Knight was limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble and finished with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Senior guard Connor Burchfield rounded out the trio with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a 2-of-4 effort from 3-point range.
 
Keita Bates-Diop topped the Buckeyes with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, while Kaleb Wesson had 17 points and seven rebounds.
 
Inside the Numbers
- Ohio State shot 64.8 percent (35-of-54) from the floor compared to 51.9 percent (27-of-52) for the Tribe. Ohio State connected at a 69.2 percent (18-of-26) in the first half.
- W&M was only 5-of-16 from 3-point range (31.3 percent) against the Buckeyes. After averaging 15.4 3-pointers per game over the previous five games, the Tribe hit only five triples against Ohio State. The Green and Gold attempted just 16 3-pointers on the evening, early 10 below its average of 25.9 entering the contest.
 
Notes      
Graduate student Cole Harrison scored a season-high eight points on 4-of-5 shooting … W&M shot better than 50 percent from the field for the sixth time this season and fifth time in the last six games … Sophomore Justin Pierce led the Tribe in rebounding with five, marking the seventh time he has led the team, including the third straight … Sophomore Nathan Knight has scored in double figures in each of the Tribe's nine games this season … Senior Connor Burchfield scored double-digits for the fifth time in the last six games.
 
Up Next
The Tribe will have a week off for final exams at W&M, before returning to action against Milligan on Sunday, Dec. 17. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., and will be the kickoff of a men's and women's doubleheader at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe women host Hampton Roads rival Old Dominion at 5 p.m. Both games will be broadcast over Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.

Tribe fans can catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.