Loving, Thompson Help Ohio State Rebound Against Minnesota

Ohio State avenged an earlier loss to Minnesota by holding on for a victory against the Golden Gophers at The Schottenstein Center Wednesday night.

The Buckeyes were back on the hardwood at the Schottenstein Center playing Minnesota for the second time in a month. In the earlier game at Minnesota, the Buckeyes got off to a very slow start. It was imperative for the Scarlet and Gray to be the ones that got off to a fast start.

Thad Matta’s group accomplished that on the back of Trevor Thompson and Jaquan Lyle to the tune of an 18-8 lead.

Despite the 10-point advantage, the Buckeyes let the Gophers back into the game. Minnesota closed the gap, bringing the score to 18-13, but Andrew Wesson hit three free throws after getting fouled beyond the arc.

The Gophers go-to-players, Reggie Lynch and Amir Coffey had trouble hitting many buckets. The Buckeyes played with much more effort on both ends of the court!

Ohio State pulled away to a 37-23 lead after going 9-of-9 from the free-throw line–much better than they’ve shot all season.

A 14-point lead wasn’t enough though, as Minnesota went on a 12-0 run to close out the half, and the Bucks had their lead cut to 40-35.

Both teams came out cold in the second half. With Ohio State leading by just four, Trevor Thompson sunk a hook shot for his 18th point of the night–a career high. He ended the game with 19.

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The Bucks built an 8-point lead, but again, the Gophers come back to cut the lead to four. Ohio State went back to work and upped the lead back to 10.

But then the charity stripe turned into kryptonite. JaQuan Tate and C.J. Jackson both missed the front end of one and ones.

With 4:44 left Coffey hit a 3-pointer for the Gophers to give the Buckeyes a 3-point lead.

Kam Williams connected on a sky hook to extend the lead to four. The two teams went back and forth trading threes. OSU’s Marc Loving hit what looked to be a dagger. But the Gophers’ Akeem Springs answered right back.

When it looked like the Buckeyes could easily put this one away, Lyle missed two free throws with 40 seconds left. Fortunately, he got another chance and sank both his attempts with 26 seconds remaining. Trevor Thompson hits a free throw and played a great game to send the Buckeyes back to their dorms with a 78-72 win.

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Loving ended with 19, as did Thompson. Lyle had 11 and Tate 10 for the Buckeyes.

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