NCAA tournament: No. 2 Ohio State dispatches No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, 68-51

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Evan Turner took a back seat to slick shooter Jon Diebler and big forward Dallas Lauderdale, and Ohio State outlasted persistent UC Santa Barbara, 68-51, in the first round of the NCAA tournament Midwest Region tonight in Milwaukee.

Diebler scored 23 points and Lauderdale blocked a career-high eight shots and grabbed 12 rebounds for the second-seeded Buckeyes (28-7), who won without much offense from their top player. Turner was held to nine points while shooting two of 13 from the field — one of the worst shooting performances of his career.

Turner did have 10 rebounds, and William Buford added 16 points for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State advances to play Sunday against No. 10-seeded Georgia Tech, which beat seventh-seeded Oklahoma State, 64-59, earlier in the evening.

Orlando Johnson scored 20 points for No. 15-seeded UC Santa Barbara (20-10).

-- Associated Press

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