Feb 18, 2004
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brody Boyd scored a career-high 25 points and Iowa won its second game in a row for the first time in two months, beating Ohio State 78-67 on Wednesday night.
Boyd, whose previous best was 23 points three years ago against Michigan, hit 8 of 12 shots from the field including 6 of 9 3-pointers for Iowa (14-9, 7-5 Big Ten).
The Hawkeyes hadn’t won back-to-back games since they opened the season with six consecutive wins.
Boyd continued his strong play against Ohio State (11-13, 3-8). In Iowa’s 79-65 win over Ohio State in Iowa City on Jan. 24, he scored 19 points – all in the second half.
Pierre Pierce added 19 points, Jeff Horner had 12 points and seven assists and Glen Worley chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes kept alive their hopes of grabbing an NCAA tournament berth.
Velimir Radinovic and Tony Stockman each had 16 points, Terence Dials added 14 and Ivan Harris came off the bench for 11 for the Buckeyes, who lost their third in a row – all by double-digit margins.
The Hawkeyes, who hit 56 percent of their shots from the field, have won eight of their last nine games in Columbus. They have games remaining at home against Illinois and Minnesota and close the season at Northwestern and Purdue.
Boyd’s 3-pointer put the Hawkeyes ahead by 18 points in the early moments of the second half, but the lead sank to seven points at 58-51 on Harris’ baseline jumper with 9:53 left. After the teams traded misses, Boyd popped in a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 8:08 mark and the lead never fell below eight points again.
Iowa hit 9 of 15 3-point attempts to Ohio State’s 5 of 20.
The Hawkeyes shot 62 percent in the opening half while taking a 44-36 lead. They led by as many as 10 points after hitting 9 of their first 11 shots from the field.
Ohio State has lost only 13 Big Ten games in its six seasons in Value City Arena, but Iowa is 4-1 in the building.