COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State fought back furiously from a 10-point deficit in the second half against No. 20 Purdue on Thursday night, but a desperate rally came up just short.
Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan hit a free throw with 5 seconds left and the Boilermakers held off a final Ohio State rush to win 76-75 in a physical Big Ten contest.
Trevor Thompson made a layup to tie the score at 75 with 15 seconds left but missed a subsequent free throw that could have put the Buckeyes ahead. Swanigan was fouled on the other end and hit his first free throw but missed the second. Micah Potter grabbed that rebound and got it to JaQuan Lyle, but his driving shot at the buzzer for the win was off the mark.
Swanigan and Vincent Edwards paced with Boilermakers (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten) with 16 points apiece, and Dakota Mathias added 14. Isaac Haas had 10 rebounds.
Purdue won despite hitting just 1 of 9 shots from beyond the 3-point line in the first half and were only 8 for 23 for the game. The Boilermakers shot 42.9 percent from the field overall, compared with 44.1 percent for Ohio State.
“They have a lot of ability, a lot of talent,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said of the Buckeyes. “To be able to get a true road win, it just builds your confidence, especially a game like this that could have went either way.”
Jae’Sean Tate scored 17 points for Ohio State (10-5, 0-2) and Marc Loving added 14.
Purdue went up 53-43 with a little over 16 minutes left and looked to be on the verge of running away with it. But the Buckeyes battled back and tied the score at 55 about with 13:12 left. Down by 5 with 2:17 left, they came back to tie it again with 15 seconds left, setting up the game-ending drama.
“I thought our guys fought,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “With the exception of the first couple minutes of the second half, I thought they competed. And that’s how you want to feel when you play like that and it doesn’t come out your way.”
Tate said the team was taking the loss hard because they had a chance to win it late.
“You feel like you worked as hard as you can and left it all out on the floor,” he said.
“We got the shots we thought we wanted but they just didn’t fall,” Tate said. “There were a lot of in-and-outs.”
Purdue led 43-39 at the half, going on an 8-0 run after Ohio State led 36-35 with 4 minutes left. Loving hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Buckeyes back within a manageable four points.
Ohio State got some bad news Wednesday when the team learned that junior forward Keita Bates-Diop would miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his shin. Matta called the loss of Bates-Diop, a top defender who was averaging 9.7 points per game, “a punch in the gut.” Matta said Bates-Diop should be eligible for a medical redshirt.
BIG PICTURE:
Purdue: Holds off spirited rally by Ohio State and likely won’t fall in the polls.
Ohio State: Showed improvement taking a ranked team to the buzzer but will have to make sure their first two Big Ten losses don’t snowball, especially with the emotional loss of Bates-Diop.
UP NEXT:
Purdue: Returns home to play Wisconsin on Sunday.
Ohio State: Plays at Minnesota on Sunday night.
