The lead stretched as high as 11 points. No. 22 Ohio State, playing on a home floor where it had just taken its first loss of the season two days ago, looked determined not to let that happen again.
And then it nearly did. Emphasis on nearly. The Buckeyes (17-7, 10-5 Big Ten) trailed by four points in the final minute, forced overtime, rallied from there and held on for a 80-69 win against Indiana (16-10, 7-9).
Down 63-59 with 1:23 to play, Ohio State looked down and dusted as Indiana inbounded the ball until E.J. Liddell deflected a post entry to regain possession. That led to a Malaki Branham drive, where he drew a foul and hit two free throws with 56.1 seconds to play and halve the deficit.
After a Tamar Bates missed 3-pointer, Branham got downhill, found the paint but dished to Liddell, who slammed it home to tie the game with 5.4 seconds left. Indiana’s Xavier Johnson got off a final 3-pointer that was altered by Jamari Wheeler to force overtime against an Indiana team that entered the game having lost four straight.
And suddenly, an Ohio State season on the brink wasn’t. Wheeler’s 3-pointer near the midpoint of overtime gave Ohio State a 70-67 lead, and they would prevail from there.
Branham had 27. Liddell had 16. Ohio State did not have an empty possession in overtime as the Buckeyes closed on a 10-0 run. Indiana did not grab a rebound during overtime as Ohio State went 4 for 5 from the floor and 8 for 11 from the line after regulation
Against the Big Ten’s stingiest defense, Ohio State came out on fire to open up a double-digit second-half lead. Starting with a Liddell dunk on a feed from Malaki Branham, the Buckeyes scored on their first seven possessions of the half and eight of their first nine. The final point came on a free throw from Kyle Young, who gave Ohio State a 50-39 lead with 13:32 to play.
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But from there, everything got trickier. Ohio State’s offense disappeared, Indiana settled in and when Trayce Jackson-Davis hit a pair of free throws with 6:35 left the Hoosiers had climbed out of the 11-point hole and taken a 56-55 lead. Behind the Ohio State basket, a sizeable contingent of Hoosiers fans chanted “I-U!”
They only got louder when Jackson-Davis fed Tamar Bates for a 3-pointer with 5:09 to play, giving the Hoosiers a 59-55 lead and marking an 18-4 run after the Buckeyes had led 51-41.
The final minute of the first half alone featured a combined five missed field goals and a pair of missed free throws by Indiana’s Anthony Leal. When Meechie Johnson’s last-second runner didn’t fall, Ohio State took a 33-28 lead into the break despite going scoreless for the final 2:06 of a half during which the Buckeyes couldn’t close the door and the Hoosiers couldn’t step through it.
The last Ohio State points of the half came on a Malaki Branham drive and layup from the right block, giving the Buckeyes a 33-26 lead. It gave Branham 10 through the first 20 minutes, matching Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis for the first-half lead. Ohio State led despite only five points from E.J. Liddell on 2-for-7 shooting and starting point guard Jamari Wheeler limited to only eight minutes after picking up a second foul at the 16:10 mark.
That backcourt was thinned further when Wheelers’ immediate replacement, Cedric Russell, picked up a second foul with 12:32 left in the half.
Indiana was without a trio of backcourt players. Junior guard Rob Phinisee (undisclosed) and freshmen guards Khristian Lander (reaggravation of sore leg) and Trey Galloway (lower body), who average a combined 14.4 points and between 12.4-21.6 minutes per game, were all unavailable due to injury. Galloway had started the last three games while Phinisee has missed six straight
A familiar face was back in the arena for the game. Former coach Thad Matta, whose name hangs in the rafters after coaching the program from 2005-17, took in the game from the scorers’ table. He’s in his first year as Indiana’s associate athletic director for men’s basketball administration, and he spent much of pregame taking photos with fans, signing autographs and catching up with former player Greg Oden and Ohio State assistant coach Jake Diebler.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism