Ohio State Beats West Virginia 89-88 In Double Overtime At Cleveland Hoops Showdown

Ohio State managed a big second-half comeback to force two overtimes against West Virginia on Dec. 13. The Buckeyes beat West Virginia 89-88 at Rocket Arena in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown.

The Buckeyes were led by senior guard Bruce Thornton, sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. and freshman forward Amare Bynum, who was active on both sides of the ball with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. It was Thornton’s heroics in double overtime that gave the Buckeyes the win with a jumper with three seconds left in the game.

In a battle between Ohio State’s fast-paced play and West Virginia’s slow pace, it was the Mountaineers style that ruled the game early on, with just three total points scored in the first 3:29 of the game on a Jasper Floyd three.

Sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. tied it up with a three of his own, which got a little more scoring started. Ohio State took its first lead, 9-8, on two free throws by junior forward Devin Royal.

Mobley made his second three with nine minutes left in the half to take a 14-11 lead, but Floyd answered with another to tie the game back up.

Sophomore guard Taison Chatman entered the game at 10:27 and converted a three-point play to put the Buckeyes back up 19-17.

West Virginia took the lead back with three free throws followed by a make from beyond the arc to go up 25-19. Treysen Eaglestaff made it an 11-0 run for the Mountaineers with another three a possession later.

Senior center Christoph Tilly scored four straight points for the Buckeyes to keep the Buckeyes within seven points, 32-25, but West Virginia took a 10-point lead into the half, up 37-27.

Ohio State couldn’t pick up the pace in the second half and wasn’t able to cut into the deficit, with the Mountaineers holding on to a 10-point lead, going up 45-35. They scored the next six points on three-pointers to go up by 16.

Despite Royal having four fouls, head coach Jake Diebler elected to get the junior back into the game with just under 14 minutes remaining out of a timeout. That moved seemed to work for the Buckeyes, scoring six straight points before West Virginia called a timeout in an effort to bring that momentum to a halt with Ohio State down 51-41.

After the Mountaineers came out of that timeout with a layup, freshman forward Amare Bynum stayed hot by converting an and-one reverse layup to get within nine. Bynum continued to lead OSU on both ends of the floor with a block and a fast-break dunk over multiple defenders to bring the deficit to just seven points.

A Tilly layup was counted due to a goaltend, and Royal made the score 55-52 with a tip-in off his own miss. Royal’s points capped off a 17-4 scoring run for Ohio State.

Thornton had a three-point attempt from the top of the key to try to tie the game up, but his shooting arm was hit on a block attempt by WVU, leading him to miss short. A foul wasn’t called on the shot, and Diebler was charged with a technical foul.

West Virginia scored the next five points from the free-throw line to go up 60-52 before Thornton made a three.

Tilly brought the Buckeyes within four points at 5:19 on a tip-in, and the score remained 63-59 until a media timeout at 3:30.

Royal brought it within two after the timeout, but Honor Huff made a contested step-back three to put WVU up 66-61. A Thornton layup and two Mobley foul shots made it 66-65.

Out of an OSU timeout, Mobley put the Buckeyes on top for the first time since the score was 20-19. His three-pointer gave them a 68-66 lead. Huff tied the game up with a layup, and though the Buckeyes had multiple chances to make a game-winner, they couldn’t and the game went into overtime tied up at 68.

West Virginia struck first in the extra period on a three-pointer from Huff, but Thornton quickly answered with a layup. Thornton then took the lead back with two free throws, but Huff took it right back with a floater in the paint to lead 73-72.

Royal made a hook shot to go up by one and Huff tied it up by making 1 of 2 free throws. It remained tied until Bynum had a put-back lay-in to take a 76-74 lead. Huff remained hot with a fadeaway three to take a one-point lead, then OSU and WVU traded turnovers.

Ohio State called a timeout with 28 seconds remaining and were able to get Royal to the free-throw line where he made 1 of 2 shots to tie it up at 77. West Virginia missed a last-second layup to send the game to double overtime.

With 3:45 left in double overtime, Royal fouled out, and sophomore forward Colin White replaced him. Chance Moore made both free throws and Thornton tied the game up at 79 with two of his own.

Jackson Fields took the lead back with a layup and Thornton tied it back up with a jumper. White had a foul that gave Jasper Floyd a chance to make two free throws, but Tilly tied it back up with a dunk and Thornton made a jumper with 59 seconds left to take an 85-83 lead.

Out of a timeout, Brenen Lorient gave West Virginia a one-point lead with a three-pointer, but Thornton took it right back by making two free throws to go up 87-86 with 25 seconds remaining.

The Mountaineers took the lead on a Huff jumper with 12 seconds left, but after a review, Thornton made a jumper in the paint through contact with three seconds left for the win.

Thornton had 21 points in the win on 8-of-19 shooting while Mobley (17), Tilly (14) and Royal (11) each had double-digit points. Both Tilly and Royal had double-doubles with 10 rebounds apiece.