The Buckeyes needed a clutch play at the end of the game and Jae'Sean Tate was there to answer as he drove the lane, spun past Lamar Stevens and got it to fall with three seconds to go to propel Ohio State (17-13, 7-10) to a 71-70 win at Penn State (14-16, 6-11).
Ohio State held an eight-point lead in the first half only to fall down by nine points in the second half as Penn State and the Buckeyes would play a close game down the stretch.
The Buckeyes were led by JaQuan Lyle coming off the bench with 17 points while Marc Loving would have 14 points and Tate would had 12. Penn State was paced by Shep Garner and his 20 points with 15 coming from beyond the arc.
This win moves the Buckeyes out of a logjam of teams with six conference wins and potentially a step closer to not having to play on Wednesday in the Big Ten Tournament. The bottom four teams in the conference standings have to play an extra game and the Buckeyes would like to avoid that at all costs.
Thad Matta's team would lead for the entire first half of the game, opening up a quick 10-3 lead early in the game. The Buckeyes would see the Nittany Lions roar back to get within a score and then charge back out to leads. The Buckeyes would get it to eight points late in the first half after Trevor Thompson would split a pair of free throws.
Penn State would cut the lead to four points at the half as Tony Carr would make a basket in the closing moments of the half and Kam Williams would not get a last second shot to fall. Ohio State was up 40-36 at the break and there was a sense of déjà vu as the Buckeyes have been in this position before.
The Nittany Lions would go on a 12-1 run to start the second half and put the Buckeyes down by seven points before C.J. Jackson would score Ohio State's first field goal of the half. Ohio State has had rough 'first four minute' segments of the second half of the game and Tuesday night was no different.
Hand it to the Buckeyes not to pack it in however and the Nittany Lions would go cold from the field as the Buckeyes would get hot after falling down 53-44. Andre Wesson provided a spark off the bench and his seven points came at key moments as Ohio State would chip into the Penn State lead.
Micah Potter would get called for hanging on the rim after a made dunk and Penn State would get a free throw after Ohio State cut the lead to two points. Matta was visibly upset with the call and it would have been another chance for Ohio State to fold. It did not.
Loving would tie the game at 60-all from the free throw line. It was not a great night from the line for the Buckeyes as they would go 14-22 but Loving nailed both of his attempts at this point to finally knot the game up.
Wesson would go on to hit a three-pointer to put Ohio State up by a three-point margin and then Penn State would lose Josh Reaves to fouls at the six-minute mark.
Trevor Thompson would make a pair of free throws to put the Buckeyes up by five, 65-60 and there was some reason to be optimistic for the Buckeyes.
This team and optimism have not mixed well this season and Penn State would come back. The Buckeyes would keep the lead up to two possessions until Tate traveled with 28.9 seconds left in the game and Ohio State clinging to a two-point lead.
Carr would answer with a deep three for Penn State and give the home team a 70-69 lead.
The Buckeyes had 10 seconds to make something happen. Matta's team had seen more than its fair share of games go down to a final possession. Ohio State came up short in many of them. Tuesday would be different as Tate made it happen with three seconds left and gave the Buckeyes the one-point win.
Ohio State closes out the regular season on Sunday at home against Indiana. A win should be enough to get Ohio State out of the first day of tournament action and a loss will make things interesting. Game time is 12pm (EST).
