The Penn State men’s basketball team took on Ohio State looking for their first Big Ten win of the season, but they left Columbus falling just short, 78-84, against the Buckeyes.
At the first media timeout (15:42) it was the Buckeyes leading the Nittany Lions 9-5. John Mobley, Jr. for OSU was leading all scorers with 5 points and PSU’s Eli Rice had three points by draining a three from the corner.
Coach Rhoades was rotating fresh bodies into the game looking for a spark.
Ivan Juric then grabbed an offensive rebound with a put-back to cut the lead to two, 11-9, but then next possession down the court OSU’s Bruce Thornton knocked in a three to stretch the Buckeye’s lead to five, 14-9 (13:20).
The score was 22-11, Buckeyes, with (10:00) to play in the first half, and the Buckeyes were finding their stride while Penn State was shooting cold from the floor.
Ohio State was on a 14-2 run at the (9:25) mark of the first half.
At the second media timeout (6:47) it was Ohio State 29 Penn State 17.
Dominick Stewart and Ivan Juric then knocked in back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to 10, 33-23, at the second media timeout (3:55).
Penn State was getting outrebounded which was leading to more offensive opportunities for the Buckeyes, and they were capitalizing on these extra opportunities by going on a 7-0 run. The Buckeyes were leading 46-28 with (1:03) to play until halftime.
The score at halftime was Buckeyes 50 Nittany Lions 32.
To start the second half both teams came out with an aggressive mindset and were trading buckets.
Dominick Stewart trimmed OSUs lead to 12 after drilling a shot from downtown.
Penn State went on a 7-0 run and cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 10 after a Mingo assist to Juric for a power slam dunk to make the score Ohio State 54 PSU 44 (15:51).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The Buckeyes then had to call a timeout at the (12:47) mark after the Blue & White cut the lead to seven, 58-51.
Eli Rice was leading all scorers with 17 points and was 5-of-7 from downtown (11:58).
At the media timeout (11:42) it was Ohio State 60 PSU 54 after a dribble-drive and-one by the Buckeyes’ Thornton.
PSU was on a 22-6 scoring run and after a Josh Reed and-one, it was a one-point game, Ohio State 60 Penn State 59 (10:46).
Rice then missed a three and Mobley made his to make the score 65-59 Ohio State with (9:45) left to play.
The Buckeyes started to regain control of the game and had their lead back to 11 after another Mobley three to make the score 74-63 (6:38).
The Nittany Lions kept battling and had the deficit down to seven, but OSU kept answering any Penn State run.
With 3:32 left in the game it was the Buckeyes 78 Nittany Lions 69 (3:32).
Penn State put on their full-court press looking for turnovers.
Rice then hit a three to make the score 80-76 with :23 seconds to play, but PSU would not get any closer.
FINAL: OSU 84 PSU 78
