IU basketball had crucial Top-25 road win in its grasp. Then let it slip away. Is the season?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Indiana rallied back from an 11-point second half deficit to take a lead late in the second half, but watched that disappear in the waning seconds of regulation, then lost 80-69 to No. 19 Ohio State at the Value City Arena on Monday.

The Hoosiers fall to 16-10 overall, 7-9 at the Big Ten with their losing streak now at five games. Ohio State improves to 17-7, 10-5.

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Here are three reasons why it happened.

Indiana fell apart in the last possessions of regulation

Indiana rallied back from 11 points down with excellent second-half defense to take a 63-59 lead with 2:47 to go in regulation on a deep step-back jumper by freshman Tamar Bates. However, the Hoosiers didn't score again in regulation and Ohio State rallied back to tie the score and force overtime where they outscored the Hoosiers 17-6.

In Indiana's last five possessions, they saw two missed 3-pointers each by Bates and point guard Xavier Johnson and a turnover by forward Race Thompson. Ohio State got two free throws by freshman guard Malakhi Branham with 56 seconds to go, then a dunk by forward E.J. Liddell with 5.4 seconds to go to tie it.

The Hoosiers took a two-point lead with 4:11 to go in overtime, but Ohio State took over from there. Branham scored on a driving layup to tie the score 67-67. IU center Trayce Jackson-Davis missed from inside the paint, and Ohio State guard Jamari Wheeler hit a 3-pointer on the other end to put Ohio State up for good.

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Ohio State rode Malakhi Branham when no one else could score

Liddell hit a jumper with 16:50 to go and then had his game-tying dunk with six seconds left. In the 16:44 in between, the only Ohio State player to make a field goal was Branham.

That ended up being enough.

Branham finished with 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting, making all eight of his free throws. He scored 13 of Ohio State's 30 second-half points and made four of the nine field goals. With IU sophomore guard Trey Galloway out with injury, the Hoosiers didn't have a good matchup for him and Branham seemed to figure that out late in the first half. Eight of his nine field goals came after the 4-minute mark of the first half.

Missed free throws early

Indiana mostly weathered the storm caused by their missing guards — Rob Phinisee, Khristian Lander and Galloway. Johnson especially picked up his game after five first-half turnovers, finishing with 16 points and just one turnover after the first 10 minutes of the first half.

However, missed free throws turned out to be killers. The Hoosiers finished 19-of-27 at the line, but an ugly stretch of misses at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second left them in a sizable hole. Jackson-Davis missed six of them himself and finished 6-of-13 at the line. Had the Hoosiers made a single one of them, they might not have had to go to overtime in the first place and might have been able to close the Buckeyes out in regulation.

Ohio St. 80, Indiana 69, OT

INDIANA (16-10): Jackson-Davis 3-9 7-13 13, Kopp 2-8 2-2 7, Thompson 6-12 0-0 13, X.Johnson 3-12 10-10 16, Stewart 4-9 0-0 11, Bates 3-11 0-0 7, Leal 0-1 0-2 0, Durr 0-1 0-0 0, Geronimo 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-64 19-27 69.

OHIO ST. (17-7): Key 3-6 0-1 6, Liddell 6-15 3-4 16, Brown 4-6 0-0 10, Branham 9-13 8-8 27, Wheeler 2-6 3-4 8, Young 1-3 6-8 8, M.Johnson 1-5 2-3 5, Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Ahrens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 22-28 80.

Halftime—Ohio St. 33-28. 3-Point Goals_Indiana 6-19 (Stewart 3-4, Thompson 1-2, Bates 1-4, Kopp 1-5, Leal 0-1, X.Johnson 0-3), Ohio St. 6-19 (Brown 2-2, Branham 1-2, M.Johnson 1-4, Liddell 1-5, Wheeler 1-5, Young 0-1). Fouled Out_X.Johnson. Rebounds_Indiana 33 (Jackson-Davis, Thompson 9), Ohio St. 32 (Liddell 7). Assists_Indiana 12 (X.Johnson 4), Ohio St. 8 (Branham 3). Total Fouls_Indiana 21, Ohio St. 22.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball falls apart late in overtime loss to Ohio State