National Basketball Association
Ohio St. 75, Northwestern 73
When: 8:30 PM ET, Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
Officials:
# Ed Hightower, # Mike Sanzere, # Ray Perone
Attendance:
8117
By SportsDirect Inc.
OHIO STATE 75, NORTHWESTERN 73: Jared Sullinger had 22 points and 18 rebounds, including a layup with four seconds left, as the No. 11 Buckeyes remained alive for a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
Ohio State (24-6, 12-5 Big Ten) will win the Big Ten title with a victory at No. 5 Michigan State (13-4) on Sunday.
Northwestern (17-12, 7-10), which lost for the sixth consecutive time to Ohio State, trailed by as many as 13 points before coming all the way back to tie the game at 73 on a dramatic 3-pointer by Alex Marcotullio with 10 seconds to play. John Shurna, who scored 22 points, missed a potential winning 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.
The Buckeyes had a seemingly comfortable 12-point lead after Lenzelle Smith, who had a career-high seven assists, fed William Buford for a dunk and a 66-54 cushion at the 7:24 mark.
Northwestern, though, whittled the deficit down to 73-70 on two free throws by JerShon Cobb, and a Cobb steal led to Marcotullio’s shot.
Drew Crawford hit 9 of 11 field goals and scored 23 points for Northwestern, which has never played in the NCAA Tournament.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ohio State had an excellent first half, making 16 of 27 from the field (59 percent). … The Buckeyes outrebounded the Wildcats 42-16, including 20-3 in the opening half. … Northwestern fell to 1-7 against ranked teams.
Top Game Performances
Ohio St. |
|
Northwestern |
Jared Sullinger 22 |
Scoring |
Drew Crawford 23 |
Lenzelle Smith Jr. 7 |
Assists |
Reggie Hearn 5 |
Jared Sullinger 18 |
Rebounds |
Drew Crawford 4 |
Jared Sullinger 6 |
Free Throws Made |
John Shurna 4 |
Aaron Craft 4 |
Steals |
JerShon Cobb 2 |
Aaron Craft 2 |
Blocks |
JerShon Cobb 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Ohio St.
|
75 |
50.0 |
6-19 |
11-16 |
20 |
42 |
4 |
5 |
16 |
Northwestern
|
73 |
50.0 |
13-27 |
8-13 |
21 |
16 |
2 |
7 |
7 |