The Buckeyes hoped to even the series versus the Boilermakers with a home victory but come up short as Purdue escapes Columbus with a 67-65 victory. Purdue was only 2-17 from behind the arc but made their last three attempts in the final four minutes and that proved to be the difference. Duane Washington Jr lead all scores with 21 including 6-9 from 3-point land himself, but it was not enough on a night when OSU had an 11-point lead but could not hold it.  The loss will move Ohio State back into the middle of the conference standings.

Both Purdue and Ohio State entered the game riding 3 game winning streaks, only Iowa (5 games) has a longer winning streak at this time in the conference. Purdue won the first game this season back in December and has won 5 of the last 7 in the series.

Things started well for Purdue as Travion Williams started the scoring with a quick bucket and after an EJ Liddell turnover scored again to give the visiting team a 4-0 lead.

Justin Arhens gets the Buckeyes on the board with three free throws and after a Purdue turnover, Justice Sueing lands the first of several Buckeye threes and OSU had it’s first lead at 6-4. The 3‘s continued to rain, first from Washington, then Sueing gets his second and Ohio State had 12-7 lead.

The game’s first big development was when Travion Williams picked up his second foul at the 12 minute mark and had to sit out most of the rest of the half.  Buckeyes where holding on to a 15-12 lead at the time.

After a quick 3 by Purdue’s Isiah Thompson and a bucket from Zach Edey, Coach Holtmann called his first time out with 10:04 as Purdue was on a 9-3 run. Even though Purdue was getting good looks at the bucket, they appear to be taking their time, being very patient while Travion Williams was on the bench with two fouls.

As the two teams go back and forth, Duane Washington drops a curl in the paint to give the Buckeyes a little breathing room at 29-21, largest lead of the night, then added another to make it 32-21. Ohio State upped it to 32-24 at under 4:00 media timeout.

Duane Washington takes a Purdue turnover all by himself, continues to stay hot and turns it into a three and a 35-24 lead.  Unfortunately, Ohio state relies too much on the long ball, missing some good looks, allowing Purdue to cut it to five, 35-30

With under 40 seconds to go, OSU worked for last shot, missing a dunk but picked up a second foul on Ebey in the process. Liddell got both free throws to fall expanding the lead to 37-30. But Zed Key fouls with just two seconds on the clock and Zach Ebey gets 1 of 2 free throws and we go into halftime while the Buckeyes enjoy a 37-31 lead.

At the half one number that stands out is turnovers, the Buckeyes only have 3 so far, while Purdue has 8. Duane Washington Jr leads all scoring with 14 points on 5-9 shooting.   Purdue shooting 46% while OSU is only 37%, but is 40% from beyond the arc.

EJ Liddell opens the second Ohio State with a quick bucket in the paint, only the second bucket in the paint for the Buckeyes. Nonetheless it gives OSU a 39-31 advantage.

Not to be left out of the party, Kyle Young joins the three-fest making it 42-34 Ohio State, however the Buckeyes are called for 5 fouls in the first 4 minutes of the second half and the Boilermakers cut the lead to 43-38 at the 15:56 mark

Zed Key gets a rare but big bucket in the paint to increase the lead back to 6 at 45-39. But by the time there was 14:34 remaining in the game Key picks up his 3^rd foul and the sixth on the Buckeyes already in the half. Then once again Ohio State goes on another scoring slump missing several shots in a row but once again Duane Washington knocks the lid off the basket, draining his 5^th 3 in 8 attempts making it 48-41.

Coach Painter continues to swap out Williams and Ebey trying to protect them from getting into foul trouble and keeps the team patient of offense resulting a very low scoring affair. After one long offensive set and a missed three, the Buckeyes grab a long rebound and get a fdourth foul called on Mason Gillis. The two foul shots by Justice Sueing expands it to 50-45 with 9:16 to go.

At 8:30 in the game, the Buckeyes scoring woes are highlighted as they only have 4 field goals total in the half. After a very bad and sloppy offensive set, Ohio State loses the ball on a shot clock violation holding on to a 50-46 with 7:43 to go.  Travion Williams gets a quick shot under the basket  and it is a two point game, 50-48 Buckeyes, who have now gone over 5 minutes without a field goal.

Another turnover by the Buckeyes and Williams does the work by himself and gives Purdue their first lead since it was 17-16 in the first half. But then Seth Towns stops the drought with a huge 3 to make it 53-52 OSU. Purdue misses a 15 footer and Williams out muscles Kyle Young for the rebound and putback, putting Purdue back on top 54-53.

Duane Washington gets his third foul but Purdue misses both foul shots and it remains 55-54. Liddell makes an 18 footer to make it 57-54. This one was clearly going to come down to the wire. At the 2:57 point on the clock, Ohio State holds on to the 60-57 lead at the final media time out.

Jaden Ivey drives the lane and kisses it high off the glass to cut the deficit to 60-59. EJ Liddell goes in hard, gets the 5th foul Gillis. He makes the first, misses the second but Ohio State gets the rebound and Arhens makes them pay with 3 makes it 64-59. That should have been the ball game. But Purdue’s Travion Williams answers with a basket in the paint on a shoulder fake near the foul line.

Liddell tries to finish on OSU’s next possession but runs out of time and Buckeyes give it up with the shoot clock violation, still up 64-61. Purdue calls a time out and out of the huddle they set up a curl and Sasha Stefanovic nails a wide open three to tie at 64.

Buckeyes get a good look at a three and it looks as if Justin Arhens was fouled but nothing is called.  The ball goes out of bounds and Purdue gets it with 25 seconds. The Boilermakers set up for a final shot, and Jaden Ivey gets an open three with 5 seconds remaining to go up 67-64. Purdue commits a quick foul to prevent a three-point attempt for the Buckeyes. Ohio State gets the first foul shot to make it 67-65 but was unable to pick up the rebound on the forced miss to end the game.

The Buckeyes next hit the hardwood Saturday in a primetime game at 4:00pm on CBS when they take on the #10 Wisconsin Badgers in Madison.

 – Gregg Watson