Buckeyes Prevail Despite “Battle” from Penn State

Two teams heading in different directions met Wednesday night in Columbus, Ohio as the Ohio State Buckeyes having won six out of their last seven games, including five straight conference wins, squared off against the Penn State Nittany Lions, losers of nine consecutive games.

Despite double digit leads throughout, the Buckeyes had to rely on a clutch three-pointer and a 10-0 run at the end to come away with a 75-62 victory against a pesky Nittany Lion squad that wouldn’t seem to go away.

The clutch triple came from Jon Diebler who had been held scoreless until he netted the shot from behind the arc with 1:29 left to give the Buckeyes some breathing room after Penn State had cut the lead to 65-62.

"I was thinking, this one's bound to go in,'" said Diebler. "I always feel that the next one's going to go in."

Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta stuck with his shooter regardless of Diebler’s poor shooting night.

"I knew the odds were he had to make it," explained Matta. "We didn't shy away from Jon. He's a shooter."

David Lighty forced a turnover on Penn State’s next possession and the Nittany Lions were forced to foul for the remainder of the game. The Buckeyes stepped up to the charity stripe and knocked down their free-throws to seal the victory.

Evan Turner once again showed why he’s been receiving serious consideration for National Player of the Year by carrying Ohio State for much of the second half. Turner scored 22 of his game-high 27 points after halftime while finishing with team-high 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Penn State’s Talor Battle single handedly kept his team in the game while doing his best to match Turner’s stat line. Battle, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 18.8 points per game, tallied 24 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, all team-highs.

This wasn’t the first time Battle and Turner have gone toe-to-toe as the two were teammates on the U.S. World University Games team this summer. They often went head-to-head attacking each other throughout the summer and seemed to pick up right where they left off on Wednesday.

William Buford and Lighty were the other double digit scorers for the Buckeyes contributing 19 and 12 points respectively.

With the victory, Ohio State (17-6, 7-3) improves to 14-0 in Value City Arena this season.

Ohio State will look to remain unbeaten at home as they welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes into Columbus on Sunday afternoon.

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