The Cavs had a pretty good first half. They lead 24-19 after the first quarter and held onto that lead for much of the first half. Tristan Thompson had seven points and Shaun Livingston had eight. But the Cavs failed to score over the final two minutes of the second quarter and Sixers closed the half on a 9-0 run, tying the game heading into halftime.
That run carried right over into the third.
The Sixers opened the second half on a 13-2 run and the Cavs were playing catch-up for the rest of the evening. Playing catch-up is pretty tough when your team is missing its three best players. It’s extremely tough if you don’t guard Evan Turner.
Turner torched the Cavs for thirteen points in the third period from a variety of spots. Gee, Boobie, CJ Miles, it didn’t matter who checked Turner, no Cavalier could slow him down (his mid-range game was on full display). The former Buckeye finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with his 13 boards. The Villain’s strong third had the Sixers up 77-66 heading into the fourth and the Cavs never got within four points.
CJ Miles scored 19 points off the bench to pace the Cavaliers and Tyler Zeller had a solid, if unspectacular, 14 point and ten rebound evening. Four of the five Cleveland starters scored in double figures (Thompson, Livingston and Ellington each notched ten points) and Luke Walton pitched in a six point, seven board, seven assist evening.
All-Star Jrue Holiday finished with 20-6-5 and Spencer Hawes had 16 points, 11 boards and five assists to lead the Sixers, who improved to 29-43. The Cavs lost season high seventh in a row and fell to 22-49.
Ohio State finished off an impressive month of February with a home win over rival Michigan on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes are playing their best basketball of the season as the most important month in college basketball approaches. With a number of top 15 teams having lost already or squaring off against each other later today, the Buckeyes can continue a push for a 2 seed and potential placement at the Buffalo 1st-2nd Round site (the only site reasonably close to Cbus). With only one game remaining (home Tuesday vs. Illinois), the Buckeyes needed to take care of business against a below average Michigan team as they head into the Big Ten tournament as the potential favorite after this week’s season ending injury to Purdue’s Robbie Hummel.
No player has affected the fortunes of a college basketball team much like Evan Turner of the Ohio State Buckeyes this season. We linked to an article yesterday about the validity of Turner’s Player of the Year candidacy this season courtesy of 
