Diebler hot as OSU squeaks past Iowa

The Ohio State sophomore out of Upper Sandusky High had a career-best 27 points.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Jon Diebler may be the streakiest shooter in college basketball.

Fortunately for No. 24 Ohio State, in the Buckeyes’ Big Ten opener he was on a good streak instead of a bad one.

Diebler scored a career-high 27 points and Evan Turner hit three late free throws to lead the Buckeyes past Iowa 68-65 Wednesday.

“Diebler was terrific,” Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. “Those shots, there were some that were open and there were some that he just raised up.”

In a physical game between two of the nation’s top defensive teams, the Buckeyes (10-1) built an early lead, lost it, regained it, and then barely had enough to hang on at the finish.

Matt Gatens, who led the Hawkeyes (10-4) with 22 points, missed a tying 3-pointer with 9 seconds remaining. After a wild scramble for the loose ball, the Buckeyes grabbed it and made a long pass to melt away the final few seconds.

Devan Bawinkel had 15 points and Jake Kelly 11 for Iowa, which hit 14-of-28 3-pointers — one away from tying the school record for 3s in a game.

Diebler had managed to hit just 4 of 20 shots from the field in the Buckeyes’ last three games, including three of 15 from behind the arc.

“It’s hard to score 27 points,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “What Jon did today, especially in the second half, he was a tremendous boost for us.”

Against the Hawkeyes, he suddenly found the range. The sophomore, Ohio’s leading prep scorer out of tiny Upper Sandusky High School, hit 7 of 10 3-pointers and 8 of 12 shots from the field to surpass his previous best of 20 points in a 73-68 upset of No. 20 Miami.

“Guys were setting great screens for me and I was just shooting open shots,” Diebler said.

William Buford matched a career-high with 16 points, and Turner finished with 11 points for the Buckeyes, still smarting from a 76-48 beating at home to West Virginia on Saturday.

Asked how much better this game was for him that the last one, Diebler cracked up.

“It was good because we didn’t get beat by 30 and we won,” he said. “Against West Virginia, that was just bad. We didn’t do anything we were supposed to do. [But] guys took it upon themselves to do their job, step up and play their role on the team and overall you see the efficiency we played with when we do that.”

The Hawkeyes, down 30-15 with about five minutes left in the half, scratched their way back to pull grab their first lead on Bawinkel’s 3-pointer, all alone in the left corner, at the 11:42 mark. Kelly’s shot in the lane upped the lead to 50-46.