No. 2 OSU survives vs. Minnesota

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Neither Minnesota coach Tubby Smith nor Ohio State’s Thad Matta was happy with the officiating.

Welcome to the hand-to-hand combat known as the Big Ten’s regular season.

No. 2 Ohio State survived a scare when Austin Hollins’ 3-pointer came up short in the final seconds, allowing the Buckeyes to remain unbeaten with a 67-64 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.

Smith felt Hollins was fouled by William Buford, who got a piece of the shot.

“It was a foul. It was a foul. Any other questions?” Smith said after the game. Asked again about the sequence, he said, “I didn’t make the call, so. ... That’s just my opinion.”

Matta also was displeased, hinting that the game tilted on a couple of questionable foul calls.

“It was an odd twist being up 18 there in the second half and there were a couple of plays there that happened that really, really turned the momentum,” he said. Asked to elaborate he smiled and said, “I don’t think I can say what they were.”

The Buckeyes (16-0, 3-0 Big Ten) held a big lead before the Golden Gophers (12-4, 1-3) rallied to pull within 67-64 on Al Nolen’s two free throws with 44.6 seconds left.

Smith elected to foul Ohio State’s Dallas Lauderdale, a 33-percent free throw shooter, and he missed both with 28.5 seconds left.

The Gophers missed two shots inside before taking the ball out underneath the basket with 15 seconds remaining. With time running out, Nolen fed Hollins who got off a shot with that Buford got a hand on.

David Lighty led the Buckeyes with 19 points, while Jared Sullinger had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Buckeyes. Sullinger’s freshman classmate, point guard Aaron Craft, came off the bench to score 11 points with seven assists.

Asked what he learned from the game about Big Ten play, Sullinger said it was the lack of sympathy.

“It was real physical down in the paint,” he said. “The refs just look at you like, ‘Uh, this is the Big Ten.”’

Trevor Mbakwe totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Golden Gophers, with Nolen adding 11 points.

“We just need to get back to the friendly confines of ‘The Barn,’” Smith said, referring to Williams Arena, where the Golden Gophers have won eight of nine games.

The Buckeyes played large segments of the game without Lauderdale and Lighty due to foul trouble. Lighty, who received the game ball for playing in an Ohio State-record 111th career victory, fouled out with 2:30 left.

“It got a little hectic,” Lighty said of the last few minutes. “We just have to keep our heads. Things didn’t go our way, but we stuck in there and found a way to win.”