Purdue falls at Ohio State in road shocker
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Again, a road loss for Purdue. Again, because of turnovers.
Purdue’s 13 turnovers on Sunday at Ohio State led to 22 Buckeye points — a common thread among the Boilermakers’ three losses — and ultimately a 73-69 loss.
Purdue opened the game up 8-0, but Bruce Thornton (14 first-half points) kept the Buckeyes in the game and positioned them to close the half on a 14-2 run — fueled by Boilermaker turnovers and Zach Edey sitting with two fouls — to lead 35-30 at the break. Ohio State took away the three, holding Purdue to just 1-of-4 in the first half.
Six Purdue turnovers led to 10 Ohio State points. For the game, Purdue committed 14 turnovers — one meaningless one at the buzzer, though — leading to 22 Buckeye points.
Zach Edey scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but accounted for six of those turnovers, seeming after the game frustrated to have not drawn more foul calls on balls that were slapped away.
Lance Jones scored 13 points and was the only Boilermaker to make a three-pointer, as Purdue managed just nine attempts. Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn each scored 12.
Bruce Thornton scored 22 for Ohio State, buoying the Buckeyes early after Purdue jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Jamison Battle scored 19, including a run in the second half in which he made three threes in roughly a minute, two of them off Purdue turnovers and another off an offensive rebound.
Ohio State was playing its first game under interim coach Jake Diebler, who’s finishing out the season after Chris Holtmann’s in-season firing last week.
PDF: Purdue-Ohio State statistics
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