The Gophers and Buckeyes went to overtime for the second year in a row, with Ohio State squeaking it out.
Hoping to head to Ann Arbor on Friday with some momentum, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (13-5, 5-3) welcomed the Golden Gophers of Minnesota (10-9, 3-5) to the arena formerly known as Value City Arena on Tuesday night. Minnesota has had some success in the building lately, winning two of the last four matchups between the two teams in Columbus.
The Buckeyes tormented Minnesota over the first few minutes, forcing the Gophers to take tough shots late in the shot clock over and over as Ohio State jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the first four minutes. The Gophers missed their first eight shots of the game, while Ohio State knocked down four of their first five, including threes from John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal.
Despite taking over six minutes to score their first made basket of the game, Minnesota put together a 16-2 run over a 3:37 span to pull ahead of the Buckeyes, 16-12. Ohio State aided Minnesota by turning the ball over five times in the first nine minutes of the game, which the Gophers turned into six early points, including four trips to the free throw line. After going nearly five minutes without a made basket, Mobley knocked down a three-pointer from right in front of the Minnesota bench with 11:19 left in the first half to pull Ohio State back within one, 16-15.
Mobley’s hot shooting from the last game carried over to Tuesday night, with the sophomore guard scoring 13 of Ohio State’s first 20 points. The rest of the team, however, was struggling, and only Mobley was keeping them afloat.
There were four lead changes over the final 10 minutes of the first half, with the final one being Thornton’s mid-range floater putting the Buckeyes ahead 29-28 with 4:17 left in the half. The two teams went ice cold after that, with the only other made basket from that point being a layup by Thornton with 17 seconds remaining until halftime. That basket put the Buckeyes up 31-28, which was our filthy halftime score.
The Buckeyes scored the first seven points of the second half to push their lead back to double-digits, going ahead 38-28 with 18:15 remaining in the game. After getting a little trigger-happy from three late in the first half, the Buckeyes started attacking the basket and getting downhill, getting buckets from Thornton, Mobley, and Tilly to open the second stanza.
The Gophers got a trio of made three-pointers from Cade Tyson, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, and Isaac Asuma over as span of 2:03 to get Minnesota back within four points, 43-39, with just under 15 minutes remaining in the game.
A turnover by Devin Royal turned into a fast break layup by Minnesota’s Langston Reynolds, putting the Gophers up 47-46 with 8:49 remaining, and after a second Royal turnover, Asuma knocked down his third triple of the game to put Minnesota up 50-46 with eight minutes left, forcing Jake Diebler to call a timeout.
Ohio State took the lead back on a baseline floater by Royal with 4:16 remaining to put the Buckeyes up 55-53, but on the very next Minnesota possession Crocker-Johnson beat Ivan Njegovan off the dribble and Thornton came in to help, fouling the big man on a made basket. Crocker-Johnson made the free throw to put Minnesota up 56-55.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for the final four minutes of the game, with the game tied at 67 with just a few seconds left. Mobley and Tyson both missed three-pointers in the final 20 seconds, so the game went to overtime.
Ohio State repeatedly went up by two of three points in overtime, but it seemed like each time they did, Minnesota answered with a big basket or drew a foul to immediately make it a one-possession game again. However, with Ohio State up 74-71 and 1:53 left, Colin White stole a pass and went coast-to-coast with it, scoring at the basket (his first shot attempt of the game) to make it 76-71 Buckeyes.
Big baskets from Thornton in the final minutes, plus that huge defensive play by Colin White, were enough for Ohio State to hang on by the skin of their teeth and beat the Gophers in OT, 82-74.
With the Columbus Blue Jackets on a four-game winning streak (they are playing at the same time as Ohio State, so if they lost tonight, don’t tell me!), let’s take a look at a hockey-style, “Three Stars” feature for tonight’s Buckeye victory:
First/second star – John Mobley Jr.
Mobley was the one who got things moving for Ohio State early on Tuesday night, scoring five of the Buckeyes’ first 10 points and 13 of their first 20. Mobley’s mere existence on the floor also led to baskets for several other Buckeyes, as Minnesota had no choice but to send multiple defenders towards him whenever the ball was in his hands. After scoring 28 against UCLA, Mobley came out and scored 26 Tuesday night, going 5-for-11 from three in the process.
Second star – Bruce Thornton
The captain made big plays down the stretch to help send the game to overtime, scoring 10 points in the second half. He also had seven rebounds and four steals on Tuesday night. Nearly every time Minnesota tied the game, it was Thornton who was attacking the basket and putting the Buckeyes back in front. Thornton finished with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
Third star – Langston Reynolds
Reynolds, a senior transfer who spent his first three seasons at Northern Colorado, entered Tuesday’s game as a career 59.4% free throw shooter. Ohio State clearly had that scouted, as they were physical with him whenever he had the ball, knowing that he struggles at the line. However, the 6-foot-4 guard went to the line six times in the first half, knocking down all six of them to keep Minnesota in the game. Early on free throws were all the Gophers were able to muster, and a big part of that was Reynolds going to the line and knocking a bunch down, despite how much he’s struggled at the line this season and in his career. Reynolds was a big reason Ohio State wasn’t able to run away with the game in the opening minutes.
Category: General Sports
