Ohio State (14-6, 6-4 Big Ten) was able to hold on and keep Penn State (9-10, 0-9) from getting its first Big Ten win of the season, winning 84-78 at the Schottenstein Center on Jan. 26.
The Buckeyes took an 18-point lead into halftime, but the Nittany Lions brought it as close as one point in the second half. However, OSU was able to pull away late in the second half and give itself enough of a cushion to take home the win.
Nearly four minutes into the game, Ohio State was able to take a 9-5 lead with five points from sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. Over the next few minutes, the Buckeyes stretched their lead to seven points, 16-9 on an and-one putback layup from Puff Johnson at 11:53. It was his first two points with his new team, and he made the free throw after a timeout.
Sophomore guard Taison Chatman and Mobley continued Ohio State’s run with a couple of three-point jumpers for a 22-11 lead.
The lead remained in the double digits for the Buckeyes while Chatman scored four more points on the way to a 29-17 score with 7:13 left in the half.
The Nittany Lions were able to make it a 10-point deficit with three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the court. The next three baskets were more three-pointers, two from the Buckeyes, which made it a 39-26 game.
Freshman forward Amare Bynum helped stretch the lead to 16 at 1:29 with five straight points, the latter three on a converted three-point play.
The Buckeye lead got out to as many as 18 points before the half, and they went into the locker room with up 50-32. Each of Mobley (13), Bynum (13) and junior forward Devin Royal (10) went into halftime already with double-digit points.
Penn State came out of the half with a 9-4 run to get within 10 points just under four minutes into the frame, and shrunk the deficit to seven points at 12:49 on a layup from Freddie Dilione V.
Eli Rice then made it a four-point game with a three-pointer, but senior guard Bruce Thornton stretched it back to six with a layup, making the score 60-54. But the Nittany Lions soon made it 60-59 with five straight points.
The Buckeyes turned it back on and went on a 9-2 run to go up by eight points with 8:22 left in the game and were able to keep the lead at over five points until there were just 24 seconds left in the game and Penn State made a three-pointer.
The Lions would foul Mobley and he made both free throws, which all but sealed the six-point win for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes were led by Mobley for the fourth straight game. He had 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, which included 5 of 11 from three-point range. Bynum had 15 points and a team-high five boards and Royal finished the game with 14 points.
