No. 16 Ohio State snaps No. 3 Purdue’s nation-best 19-game win streak
Purdue’s winning streak and outright lead in the Big Ten ended Wednesday night.
The ascent of Ohio State and star junior Keita Bates-Diop continued.
Bates-Diop furthered his Player of the Year argument with a game-winning tip-in with 2.8 seconds left, lifting No. 16 Ohio State to a 64-63 victory over No. 3 Purdue at Mackey Arena.
Ohio State snapped Purdue’s nation-best and program-record 19-game winning streak. By handing Purdue its first Big Ten loss, the Buckeyes pulled into a first-place tie with five games remaining.
The Boilermakers travel to second-place Michigan State, which has two losses, on Saturday.
“We’ve had this before,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We’ve had stretches where we’ve allowed people to come back into games. If you keep doing it you’re going to allow people to get you, and tonight it got us.”
At one point it appeared Purdue might break away and win its biggest game of the season comfortably.
Instead, Ohio State proved itself with a handful of clutch plays in the final minutes.
Purdue led by as much as 14 in the second half, but Ohio State kept making runs. The lead dwindled all the way down to 1 on Andrew Dakich’s driving layup with 3:51 to play.
Carsen Edwards hit a pair of free throws with 3:27 left, giving him a career-high 28 points and pushing the lead back to 60-57.
Ohio State took its only lead of the second half with 1:101 left on Andre Wesson’s 3-pointer. Vincent Edwards came right back and answered with a conventional 3-point play to put Purdue up 63-62.
An offensive rebound kept Ohio State’s final possession alive. Tate drove to the basket over Purdue’s Matt Haarms and missed. But Bates-Diop scored on the offensive rebound with 2.8 seconds left for a 64-63 lead.
Ohio State outrebounded Purdue by only one, becoming the seventh straight team to outrebound the Boilermakers. But six offensive rebounds yielded an 8-2 edge in second-chance points.
“Eventually it was going to catch us, and it finally caught us,” Vincent Edwards said.
After a timeout, Dakota Mathias made a full-court baseball pass to Isaac Haas under the basket on the inbounds. But Haas’ off-balance shot attempt glanced off the rim.
Only four Purdue players scored, and Ohio State’s bench outscored the Boilermakers’ 18-0. The Buckeyes also won points in the paint, 28-18.
Mathias, Purdue’s All-Big Ten defender, forced Bates-Diop to make tough shots all night. The front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year still made a handful, collecting 18 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Yet it appeared Purdue would win on the strength of two of its handful of All-Big Ten contenders.
After three straight 20-point performances, Haas never really got started in last Saturday’s victory at Rutgers. Purdue expected to feed its 7-2 senior center heavily against Ohio State.
Freshman starter Kaleb Wesson, who had fouled out of five games previously, acquired three fouls against Haas in the first half. His backup, Micah Potter, fouled Haas twice in the first 20 minutes. So the Buckeyes went to 6-8 freshman Kyle Young, averaging only 8.2 minutes in Big Ten play.
Except for one bricked dunk and a couple of missed free throws, Haas dominated his time on the floor in the first half. His 16 points, flanked by Carsen Edwards’ shotmaking, led Purdue to a nine-point lead entering the final two minutes of the half.
The Buckeyes countered with a 7-0 run to close the half. Freshman Musa Jallow, who came in 0-for-6 from 3-point range in league games, made his second 3 of the half to start the run.
Haas and Carsen Edwards made a combined 9-of-12 field goals in the first half. The rest of Purdue’s team made 1-of-11. The Boilermakers’ inability to hit shots early cost them a chance to open a big lead while holding Ohio State scoreless over the first five-plus minutes.
Haas rarely touched the ball in the second half, finishing with 18 points.
Ohio State finished the comeback by tying the game early in the second half.
Mathias immediately untied it with a 3 off an assist from Carsen Edwards. Then, Carsen Edwards took over, scoring 14 of the Boilermakers’ next 17 points and 11 in a row. That stretch included three 3-pointers, one of which he was fouled on and also hit the free throw.
With a sold-out Mackey Arena crowd of more than 14,000 roaring, Purdue’s lead peaked at 14 with 10:17 to play.
Ohio State ranked 11th in a preseason poll of Big Ten media. Yet the Buckeyes came into Wednesday’s game in second place under first-year head coach Chris Holtmann, formerly of Butler. The stellar play of Bates-Diop, considered the front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year, spearheaded the Buckeyes’ unexpected rise.
Ohio State played its second game without senior guard Kam Williams. He did not make the trip while serving an ongoing suspension for a violation of team rules.
Bates-Diop scored 35 against Illinois in Williams’ first missed game. He played 39 minutes Wednesday and led four Buckeyes in double figures.
Source:-Â https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/02/07/ohio-state-beats-purdue-snaps-win-streak/318393002/
