Thursday, January 26, 2017
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
Trevor Thompson had a career-high 19 points to lead Ohio State over Minnesota on Wednesday, but he wouldn’t let himself be happy and said his teammates shouldn’t be either.
“We don’t have time to feel good,” Thompson said after the Buckeyes’ 78-72 victory, capped by two critical blocks in the last 20 seconds by the 7-foot center.
“We can’t relax, we can’t feel good,” he said. “We can’t take this win and think that we’re there because we’re not by any shape or form. We just got to continue to chip away.”
The Buckeyes have won three of their last four after losing their first four Big Ten games but have been beset with wildly inconsistent play. They must pull of a string of wins in the last 10 regular-season games to have a chance of getting back to the NCAA Tournament after being relegated to the NIT last year.
Marc Loving bounced back from a disappointing performance in a loss Sunday to also score 19 as Ohio State dealt the Gophers (15-4, 3-5 Big Ten) their fourth straight loss.
Ohio State (13-8, 3-5) played one of its better games of the season against an evenly matched team, shooting 50 percent and making 23 of 30 free throws, including all nine in the first half. The Buckeyes scored 19 off Minnesota turnovers.
JaQuan Lyle had 11 points and Jae’Sean Tate added 10 for the Buckeyes. Thompson played 32 minutes, grabbed 10 rebounds and hit 3 of 4 shots from beyond the arc. He’s scored in double figures in seven straight games.
“He was terrific,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. “He’s probably the most improved player in the conference, in my opinion.”
Nate Mason paced the Gophers with 21 points, and Akeem Springs has 15 points and 10 rebounds. They shot 41 percent from the floor and kept fighting back to keep the game from becoming a blowout.
Ohio State led by 17 with 3:11 left in the first half, but a 12-0 run by Minnesota closed it to 40-35 at the intermission. Thompson scored eight of the first 13 points for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes opened the lead to 10 with 7:04 left in the game on a Loving jumper, but a 10-2 run punctuated by a Mason 3-pointer cut the lead to two.
Loving hit a 3-pointer with one minute left to open the lead back up to six, but Springs answered with a 3 for Minnesota cutting it to 75-72 with 48 ticks remaining.