Ohio State 65, Penn State 51
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- After a hot start, No. 14 Ohio State was disjointed offensively Saturday afternoon against Penn State.
The Buckeyes were carried by their defense, though, in a 65-51 defeat of the Nittany Lions.
Ohio State (15-4, 5-2 Big Ten) shot a modest 44 percent from the field, even after opening the game by making seven of their first 10 field-goal attempts. It held Penn State (8-12, 0-8) to 36 percent shooting. The Nittany Lions, who have lost 18 straight games to the Buckeyes dating back to 2004, made just 4 of 17 3-point shots.
Sam Thompson led Ohio State with 16 points, going 6 of 7 from the field and 2 of 2 from 3-point range, and Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith Jr. added 11 points each. Smith had eight rebounds for Ohio State, which enjoyed a 39-25 advantage on the boards.
Jermaine Marshall, who had 16 points, and D.J. Newbill, who had 15, were the only Penn State players to reach double figures. Ohio State's bench outscored Penn State's 17-7.
Penn State got no closer than within 10 points during the second half and trailed for all but one minute of the contest. The Buckeyes had a 5-minute scoring drought in the second half but never lost their double-digit lead at any point during it.
The Nittany Lions took good care of the basketball, committing only two turnovers in each half, but missed nine of their 22 free-throw attempts (Ohio State was 19 of 23 from the line) and scored just 18 first-half points.
Ohio State patiently worked the ball around Penn State's 2-3 zone in the first half and found open shots. The Buckeyes surged out to a 19-11 lead. Thomas and Thompson had seven points apiece in the half. Thomas played just 9 minutes in the half due to foul trouble.
It helped that Penn State, which shot 29 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range in the first half, went nearly 14 minutes without a field goal after that.
The Buckeyes extended their lead to 25-12 before a 3-pointer by Marshall, who had 10 first-half points, ended the Nittany Lions' drought.
The teams combined for just five turnovers in the opening half and 12 turnovers for the game.
Notes: Ohio State has won 18 straight games against Penn State dating back to 2004. ... Newbill and Marshall ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten in scoring, at 15.5 and 15.0 points per game, respectively, heading into Saturday. ... Penn State's eight-game conference losing streak is its longest since the Nittany Lions lost their first 13 Big Ten games of the 2009-10 season.
