News / Sports
College Basketball: Ohio State Beats Purdue to Advance to the Big Ten Championship Game
Greg Oden finished with 17 points and 19 rebounds while fellow freshman Mike Conley Jr. added 11 points and 6 rebounds as the Ohio State Buckeyes (29-3) knocked of a stubborn Purdue Boilermakers (21-11) squad 63-52.
While Oden was dominant throughout the game, the Boilermakers were hanging close to the Buckeyes. It looked as if Purdue would challenge Ohio State but a second half offensive collapse sealed their fate.
With just over ten minutes remaining in the second half Ohio State was up 46-45. Over the next 7 ½ minutes the Boilermakers scored two points and the Buckeyes were up 59-47.
Purdue had actually held the lead 42-40 with 12:20 remaining in the game but went cold quick and could manage just ten more points while the Buckeyes finished with a 23-10 run. The Boilermakers shot just 28 percent from the floor in the second half after hitting 46 percent of their shots in the first half.
And while the Boilermakers were missing their shots, the Buckeyes were collecting the rebounds. Ohio State out-rebounded the Boilermakers 49-33 in the game, 21 of those rebounds were on the offensive glass.
OSU will now take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday for the Big Ten title, the two teams split their regular season match-ups. Purdue will have to sit and hope for an at-large bid to make it to the NCAA Tournament.
