Ohio State starts hot and secures road win at Penn State to extend winning streak, 83-64

The Buckeyes defeated the Nittany Lions 83-64 to extend their winning streak to three games and get back to .500 in conference play.

The Ohio State Buckeyes (13-8, 5-5) defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions (13-9, 3-8) 83-64 Thursday night in Happy Valley to extend its winning streak to three games and get back to .500 in conference play.

This game was notably played at Rec Hall, which is the current home of Penn State’s men’s and women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s gymnastics and wrestling teams. It was also the longtime home of the men’s and women’s basketball teams until a 1996 move to the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State was 3-1 heading into this game at Rec Hall, having won by one point last season over No. 12 Illinois.

Freshman guard John Mobley Jr. was the catalyst to start the game, recording an assist and five points on the Buckeye’s first seven points of the game. The Buckeyes took an early 7-4 lead and were able to push that out to a 16-11 lead at the under-12 timeout.

The Buckeyes then did a great job of complementary offense and defense, pushing the lead out to double digits halfway through the first half and not allowing Penn State to go on a run and cut back into the lead.

With 2:10 seconds left in the first half, Nick Kern of Penn State received a technical foul, which resulted in two free throws for Mobley and gave Ohio State a 39-26 lead.

Devin Royal recorded four straight points after two Penn State free throws to make the score 43-28. Penn State closed the half strong, going on a 5-0 run in the final minute to cut the Buckeye lead to 43-33 at halftime.

Micah Parrish and Bruce Thornton each played 18 minutes during first half, with Mobley leading the team in scoring with 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting and 3-for-8 from three-point range.

Royal added ten points and six rebounds on 4-for-7 shooting during the opening stanza. Parrish had eight first-half points, and Thornton added six points, two assists, and two steals. Mobley also had four assists.

For Penn State, Konan-Niederhauser had ten points and a couple of highlight dunks. Zach Hicks added seven points, and Ace Baldwin had six points.

Ohio State shot 16-for-36 (44 percent) from the field and 5-for-14 from three-point range in the opening half. They also shot 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, while Penn State shot 12-for-25 (48 percent) from the field, 4-for-12 from three-point range and 5-for-9 from the free-throw line.

The big difference in the first half was the rebounding disparity, with Ohio State collecting 23 rebounds and Penn State collecting 12. The Buckeyes also had nine offensive rebounds to the Nittany Lions’ two.

To start the second half, Hicks knocked down two three-pointers to cut the Ohio State lead to 45-39, but a free throw from Sean Stewart, a Royal dunk, and a Ques Glover jumper saw Ohio State push the lead back out to 11.

After a long timeout for an issue with the scoreboard at Rec Hall with 14 minutes left in the game, Penn State entered the bonus in just six minutes, so free throws were given out generously over the final 14 minutes of this game. Ohio State joined PSU in the double bonus just a few minutes later, with both teams shooting two on every foul for basically the entire final 10 minutes of the game.

Once the Buckeyes got into the double bonus, Bruce Thornton knocked down back-to-back three pointers, and Mobley and Parrish were also both fouled shooting three-pointers. Ohio State led 67-53 at the under-8 timeout thanks to those crucial Penn State mistakes.

Two more Royal free-throws gave the Buckeyes a 71-54 led with seven minutes left in the game. In the first 13 minutes of the second half, 24 fouls were called and there was no more than 1:10 of game time without a foul being called.

Thornton knocked down a step-back three-pointer to give the Buckeyes an 18-point lead at 74-56 with six minutes remaining in the game. A floater from Mobley pushed the Ohio State lead to 20, its largest lead of the game. The Buckeyes took a 78-60 lead into the final media timeout with four minutes left in the game.

The Buckeyes controlled possession for the rest of the game and never opened the door back up for Penn State, winning the game 83-64. This was a guard heavy performance from the Buckeyes, with Mobley recording 19 points and Thornton recording 17. Royal added 15 points and eight rebounds. Konan-Niederhauser led Penn State with 21 points.

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Up Next

Ohio State (13-8, 5-5) will head to Illinois on Sunday for one of its toughest games of the season. Illinois comes into this one 14-6 overall and 6-4 in the conference, with a game at Nebraska Thursday night after the Ohio State-Penn State game comes to a close. The game will tip on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Illinois and will be the third game of the week for Ohio State.