Defiant Buckeyes claim NIT title

NEW YORK -- In a locker room outburst equal parts joy and angst, Jamar Butler finally dropped the charade Ohio State had been playing for nearly three weeks and revealed its main motivating factor for a roughshod run through the NIT.

"This is what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT," Butler yelled, surrounded by his teammates after beating Massachusetts 92-85 in the title game Thursday night. "Write that down and send that to the committee."

A year removed from a loss in the national championship game, the Buckeyes have a trophy to carry home -- even if it's not the one they had wanted.

"Kind of a sore loser," coach Thad Matta said, when asked whether he would watch the Final Four this weekend. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I think I'm going to rest."

Butler had 19 points and 8 assists in his final college game, which culminated with the kind of raucous victory celebration inside Madison Square Garden that he couldn't have last year in Atlanta.

The Buckeyes lost to Florida in the Final Four, and a snub by the NCAA selection committee kept them out of the tournament this year. They rebounded to dominate each of their four opponents on the way to New York, then had enough to withstand every UMass run.

"In 24 hours I've probably watched 10 or 12 games they played," Minutemen coach Travis Ford said, "and I never saw them shoot like that."

Kosta Koufos added 22 points and earned the tournament's most outstanding player award. Evan Turner finished with 20 for the Buckeyes (24-13), who shot 63 percent (19 of 30) from the field in the second half.

Ricky Harris scored 27 for UMass (25-11).