Playing spoiler to the Boilers
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Finally, a quality win as Ohio State defeated 15th-ranked Purdue 80-77 in overtime in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Value City Arena, Tuesday night.
Jamar Butler led all scorers with 25 points, while Othello Hunter and Evan Turner chipped in 15 points each for the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s win knocked Purdue out of first place in the Big Ten, leaving Wisconsin alone in the top slot with two very winnable games left against Penn State and Northwestern. The Buckeyes also kept their hopes of an NCAA at-large tournament bid alive while snapping a four-game losing skid. The game was tied at 72-all with 1:26 left in overtime when Hunter, a 56.4 percent free throw shooter on the year, calmly sank a pair from the charity stripe to put the Buckeyes ahead. With 57 ticks on the clock and Purdue inbounding the ball underneath their own basket, the pass was tipped by OSU’s Hunter and into the hands of Butler. |
As the shot clock was winding down, Turner drove the baseline and made a tough leaner through the Boilermaker defense to give Ohio State a 76-72 lead with 26 seconds remaining.
Just five seconds later, Robbie Hummel drilled a three-pointer from the wing to trim Ohio State’s lead down to a single point, but Butler and Turner combined to go 4-for-4 from the free throw line to seal up the victory.
It was a tightly contested game throughout with no team holding more than a six point lead.
Ohio State scored the game’s first five points and held the lead early until Tarrance Crump converted a pair of free throws to put Purdue ahead 13-12 with 13:03 left in the opening period.
The Boilermakers headed into the locker room with a 29-26 advantage when Scott Martin drained a three from along the baseline and was fouled for a four-point play with 1.7 seconds left.
The start of the second half was delayed nearly 20 minutes as the shot clocks were not working, but that only gave Butler more time to contemplate his strategy.
In the first half, Butler attempted just one field goal and missed, while scoring two points from the free throw line. In the second half, Butler was 6-for-7 from the field, knocked down five treys, and was a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe.
In the first half, they denied me as soon as I got rid of the ball,” Butler said. “We made an adjustment at halftime, and in the second half, everything felt good. At practice the other day, I got in the gym until I made 9 of 10 (3-pointers). It paid off.”
Several times here on this blog I have criticized Ohio State’s offense (or lack thereof) because it seemed the Buckeyes were never attacking the basket. Most of the movement was between the midcourt line and the foul line extended as players weaved around ball screens at the top of the key. Finally, OSU started breaking down the defense with dribble penetration and it worked quite well against Purdue.
It definitely was a lack of being able to stop their dribble penetration,” Purdue guard Keaton Grant said to Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette Courier Journal. “When Butler wasn’t scoring, he was penetrating, dishing and creating opportunities for other people.”
Purdue led 62-58 after Martin connected from downtown with 3:13 remaining in regulation, but Ohio State reeled off the next six points as Turner drove to the bucket for a layup, Terwilliger drained a 15-foot jumper from the baseline, and Butler sank two free throws with 49.5 seconds left to play to give the Buckeyes a 64-62 advantage.
Ohio State’s defense also stepped up as Hunter drew a charging foul on Marcus Green, forced a shot clock violation, and a turnover when Martin stepped on the out of bounds line under the basket with 1:02 left in regulation.
Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore forced overtime by hitting two free throws with 32.2 seconds remaining.
The Buckeyes had one last chance to avoid overtime and worked for a last shot, but Turner drove into the lane was triple-teamed before turning the ball over.
Ohio State was 25-for-52 from the field (48.1%) while holding Purdue to 40.7 perecent from the floor (24-for-59).
Up next, Ohio State hosts Michigan State, Sunday afternoon. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 12:00 noon ET, and it will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
