Ohio State (21-12) dropped a hard fought quarterfinal game against No. 1-seeded Michigan (30-2), 71-67, on March 13 at the United Center in Chicago.
After going down by double digits in the first half, the Buckeyes were able to come back to take a brief lead in the second frame, but couldn’t keep up with the Wolverines down the stretch.
It was a rough start for the Buckeyes with two missed shots and a turnover while Michigan went on a 7-0 run to begin the game. Senior guard Bruce Thornton scored the first Buckeye points on a second-chance jumper.
A three from junior forward Devin Royal made it 8-5, but the Wolverines went on another 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead at 14:47. The run was capped by two free throws from former Buckeye Roddy Gayle Jr., his first points of the game.
Ohio State followed with a 6-0 spurt with points from senior center Christoph Tilly, Royal and Thornton, but Trey McKenney scored five straight for Michigan.
By 8:36, the deficit was back out to 11 points after Elliot Cadeau made a three-pointer. The Wolverine lead bounced between nine and 11 points for the next couple of minutes before sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. made his first three of the game.
With a tip-in from senior forward Brandon Noel, who was playing in his first game since Jan. 5, and four points from Thornton, OSU got back within four points, 31-27, with 3:51 to go in the half. Then after a McKenney jumper, freshman forward Amare Bynum made a deep ball to make it a three-point game.
A Thornton three brought it within two points and after a block by Bynum, OSU had the chance to tie the game up on a fast break, but a layup off a lob from Thornton was missed by Royal and the Wolverines went down the floor for their own alley-oop, thrown down by Aday Mara.
Michigan made two free throws and Thornton had a buzzer-beating floater to close the first half down 39-35.
After the Wolverines missed a shot on their first possession of the second half, both teams traded baskets for a few possessions. Then, Ohio State got a defensive stop and tied the game up at 44 with a layup from Tilly at 17:22.
After Tilly’s layup, neither team scored for nearly three minutes until Cadeau made a layup at 14:34 to take the lead back. Mara made it a five-point lead for U-M when he converted a three-point play before two more free throws put Michigan up by seven.
Sophomore guard Gabe Cupps ended the OSU drought with a corner three after five minutes without scoring for the Buckeyes. He followed that with a layup and Thornton came back down the floor with a three-pointer to make it a 53-52 game.
It took over two minutes for OSU to score again as Mara put up six straight. But the Buckeyes went on a 9-1 run immediately after to take their first lead of the game, 61-60, with 5:40 left. After a Tilly free throw, Michigan tied the game back up at 62 with two of its own.
The Wolverines got a goaltending call and made a free throw to go back up by three points, but Thornton followed with two from the charity stripe. Mara made a layup at 2:56 and neither team scored until 1:24 when Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg made one of two free throws.
Royal ended the OSU drought with a free throw to make it a 68-65 game with just 29 seconds remaining and the Buckeyes had to foul. Cadeau made 1 of 2 from the line and Royal made a jumper with six seconds left. Lendeborg made both free throws after being fouled to put the game out of reach.
Thornton led Ohio State with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, with Royal (13) and Mobley (12) trailing him. Royal also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
