COLUMBUS, Ohio--The Ohio State Buckeyes (15-6, 5-6 Big Ten) hung on to beat the Penn State Nittany Lions (8-15, 1-11 Big Ten) by a score of 74-70 Thursday at the Schottenstein Center, marking the first time since late December that the Buckeyes won consecutive games.

The outcome of the game went down to the final minute and moments as Kyle Young, in his return back from injury, put the Buckeyes in front with a layup and one with 47.7 seconds to go, then moments later, blocked Lamar Stevens on his way to the basket to reclaim the lead for the Nittany Lions.

Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said throughout the time that Young was injured, they missed a certain physicality and experience on the floor and Young delivered that throughout the game, especially when it counted the most.

"I thought his shot-fake finish was big there late, showed great poise, rebounded it well, played with activity, and that's who Kyle is," Holtmann said. "We missed that and we've missed his experience, too."

The Buckeyes finished with 18 turnovers in the game and won the game, when just a month ago, the Buckeyes wouldn't have come out on the winning side with that amount of activity in the turnover department.

However, what caused the Buckeyes to turn the ball over at such an alarming rate was the Penn State press defense that the Buckeyes barely squeaked by with a four-point victory.

Holtmann said that the struggles against the press and the unpreparedness with how much they used that defensive look was ultimately something that he didn't mention to his team in preparation for the game and he took full responsibility for the lapse.

"I did not feel like we handled it very well and I take responsibility for that," Holtmann said. "I just didn't think that--it's on me. We prepared for so much with these guys because of how they've hurt us in the past. I watched every one of their league games. I just didn't have our guys ready enough for the press, cause I didn't anticipate it being that much of a factor. It's my fault, so we got to get better with it."

The Buckeyes' Luther Muhammad and the Nittany Lions' Stevens and Josh Reaves had a game-high 20 points while Ohio State's C.J. Jackson and Andre Wesson, as well as Penn State's Rasir Bolton, had 15 points in the game.

This marks the second 20-point game for Muhammad going back to the trip to Nebraska on Jan. 26 when he had 24 points, but Muhammad said that tonight's game it's something he is doing differently, he just works hard every day and credit his teammates for pushing him to have nights like these.

"It's just me coming to work every day," Muhammad said. "The older guys pushing me to be my best and come out playing my hardest and if I make a mistake, it's okay; next play."

Early in the game, the Nittany Lions led early behind the solo effort of Reaves scoring the team's first eight points, but the Buckeyes responded quickly and effectively behind combined efforts from Muhammad, Jackson, and Wesson putting together a 13-1 run to put the score at a 15-9 advantage for the Buckeyes at the under-13 timeout.

The Buckeyes continued to stretch the lead with three-pointers from Muhammad and Kaleb Wesson with the Buckeyes going 4-for-9 from behind the three-point line combined with the Nittany Lions going 2-for-13 in their last 13 shots from the floor with the score at 26-13 at the under-8 timeout.

As the first half went along the Buckeyes started to buckle under the press defense coming from the Nittany Lions causing a fair amount of turnovers that resulted in Penn State to claw their way back into the game with the score at a 34-31 lead for the Buckeyes at the end of the first half.

Although the Buckeyes finished the half rebounding and shooting well with going 48 percent from the field and 50 percent from three, they lost their composure with 12 turnovers in the first half with 8 of those turnovers coming in the final six minutes.

The Buckeyes started the second half with a 12-6 run with five points each from Muhammad and Andre Wesson, both of them moving in double figures with 14 points stretching the lead to 46-37 at the under-17 timeout.

The tide began to swiftly turn back in the favor of the Nittany Lions when they scored 12-straight points capitalizing on the Buckeyes' mistakes with bad shots and turnovers but had a three-point shot fall from Duane Washington Jr. to stop the bleeding at putting the score at a tie at 49 at the under-12 timeout.

The intensity started to pick up between the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions with amped physicality around the basket with borderline fouls and travels being missed on either side as both teams combined for 33 fouls and 24 turnovers so far with the Buckeyes had a slight edge of 56-55 at the under-8 timeout.

Ohio State and Penn State continued a blazing, back-and-forth play, but the Buckeyes pulled ahead on an electrifying underhand shot from as the shot clock expired Jackson over Stevens to put the Buckeyes up 66-61 with 3:14 left in the contest.

Jackson did finish with 15 points and had sparkling moments like the circus shot, but had five turnovers and moments that had Holtmann shaking his head and Holtmann said that's who he is, but as a coaching staff, they need to eliminate the bad and elevate the good in Jackson.

"We want to eliminate some of those moments where it's frustrating, but he can be a guy that changes a game with his ability," Holtmann said. "He had a couple of finishes tonight. He competes and plays exceptionally hard. I think him handling those frustrating moments has been maybe a great sign of growth and not just this year, but even last year."

The Nittany Lions roared back with an aggressive press defense that caused yet another turnover at center court when Reaves stole the ball from Andre Wesson for the dunk and the lead at 70-69 with 1:21 remaining in the game.

In the final minute, Young got inside with a sweet pass from Jackson to put the Buckeyes in the lead for good and with Ohio State hitting free-throws to edge the Nittany Lions by a final score of 74-70.

The Buckeyes will look to put three-straight wins together when they travel to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Indiana Hoosiers (13-9, 4-7 Big Ten) in the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a 1 p.m. tipoff to be televised on CBS.