In what has to be considered Thad Matta’s most frustrating season at the helm for the Ohio State Buckeyes, it continued Wednesday night with a 71-70 Overtime loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State was led by their leading scorer D.J Newbill with 25 points, including the last 2 with 1.9 seconds left, and 8 rebounds. They also got a stellar performance from Brandon Taylor with 19 points. The Buckeyes fell to 16-5 overall and 3-5 in conference play while Penn State improved to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in conference play. Ohio State was led in scoring by LaQuinton Ross with 16 while Lenzelle Smith Jr added 15 as they continue to struggle scoring consistently enough to win in the nation’s toughest conference.
After taking a 35-31 lead into halftime, the Buckeyes appeared to take control of the game after leading by as much as 11 points with a little over 7 minutes to play. But as what appears to be customary under coach Matta, the Buckeyes couldn’t handle playing with the lead and Penn State tied the game with a Brandon Taylor 3 pointer. Continuing the theme, Ohio State appeared to take control in overtime but sloppy play gave Penn State the ball with under 15 seconds to play and only down 1. That’s when D.J. Newbill decided to take a victory back with him to Happy Valley as he drained a step back 15 footer. The Penn State win over the Buckeyes ended the conference’s longest losing streak to one team at 18 consecutive Buckeye wins over the Nittany Lions.
Unacceptable
Couldn’t agree more, Jim. That was a debacle of epic proportions on a basketball court.