Buckeyes make tourney chances better with win over Wildcats

Ohio State vs Northwestern

TBy defeating Northwestern 52-47 on Sunday, the Ohio State Buckeyes strengthened their credentials for an NCAA Tournament bid.

With the victory, Ohio State improved to 20-9 overall and finished the Big Ten regular season at 10-8, tied for fourth place with Wisconsin and Penn State. As the No. 5 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes will play fourth-seeded Wisconsin (19-11, 10-8) in a quarterfinal match-up at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“It was a big win because it was the last home game and last regular-season game of the season and it gives us some momentum going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Ohio State sophomore guard Jon Diebler said about the victory over visiting Northwestern at Value City Arena in Columbus.

“I felt we had great energy in the first half and parts of the second,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said about the Buckeyes, who led 25-15 at halftime but fell behind 45-43 when Northwestern sophomore guard Micheal Thompson converted a three-pointer and subsequent free throw with 3:35 left in the game. “I thought we made big plays down the stretch.”

Diebler answered Thompson's four-point play with a triple to put the Buckeyes ahead to stay at 46-45 with 3:15 remaining. Sophomore wing Evan Turner followed with a drive to the basket to increase the Ohio State lead to three.

After a field goal by Thompson brought the Wildcats back to within one, Turner hit a jumper with 23 seconds left to give the Buckeyes a 50-47 advantage.

The Wildcats (17-12, 8-10) missed potential game-tying three-pointers on their final two possessions. Freshman center B.J. Mullens and Diebler pulled down the defensive rebounds for Ohio State.

“We really manned up today,” Mullens said. “We grabbed the boards when we needed to.”

Diebler, who made a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining to clinch the victory, finished with 11 points. He was one of four Buckeyes to score in double figures, joining Turner, Mullens and William Buford.

Turner, who was named to the All-Big Ten First Team on Monday, finished Sunday's game with 17 points and five assists.

“He’s a good player, and he took over the game,” Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said about Turner, who leads the Buckeyes this season in scoring (with an average of 16.8 points per game), rebounding (6.9 per game), assists (3.9 per game) and steals (1.7 per game).

Buford, who is averaging 11.1 points per game and was selected as the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year, contributed 11 points and eight rebounds on Sunday.

Mullens, who was picked as the conference's Sixth Man of the Year, had 10 points and six rebounds in the game against Northwestern.

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