Buckeyes dunk their way past Minnesota 79-75
Ohio State races out to lead, hangs on for Big Ten tournament win.
From the second he walks into a gym, Duane Washington Jr. always sees the rim. This time, he saw it a little more clearly.
A little more than three minutes into Ohio State’s opening game of the Big Ten tournament, the junior guard cut from the 3-point line, took a pass from Kyle Young, cut through the lane and threw down a contested dunk in the
paint. Around him, his teammates howled. Above him, the massive scoreboard at Lucas Oil Stadium showed the 6-0 lead for the Buckeyes.
It was the start of a dunk party for Washington and his teammates, who took out two weeks’ worth of frustration by slamming home seven first-half dunks, build
ing an early double-digit lead and fending off No. 13 seed Minnesota (14-15) by a 79-75 score.
Ohio State led 72-60 with 1:38 to play before the Gophers made it a 75-74 game with 8.9 seconds left. E.J. Liddell was fouled with 8.0 left, went to the line and hit two free throws for some breathing room.
With the win, the Buckeyes (198) will face No. 4 seed Purdue at
approximately 2 p.m. today, seeking to avenge a two-game regular season series sweep as well as their first tournament appearance with multiple wins since 2014.
Ohio State also avenged its 17-point loss to the Gophers in the only matchup between the teams this season. A couple thousand spectators watched this matchup, in the first game the Buckeyes have played in front of fans this season.
It helped the Buckeyes exorcise some demons and channel those two weeks’ worth of frustration into the opening minutes of this game. Washington scored on a physical drive to the right block on the opening possession of the game, and not even six minutes later he threw a no-look lob to a cutting Kyle Young for an alleyoop, two-handed slam that put the Buckeyes ahead 13-0. They wouldn’t allow a point until Both Gach scored on a layup with 13:05 remaining in the half as the Gophers missed their first eight shots and had committed three turnovers until that point.
Ohio State would stall, though, and turn it over on four straight possessions and six of nine as Minnesota slowly crept closer. A controversial Flagrant 1 foul call on Musa Jallow led to a four-point possession for the Gophers and a 6-0 run that pulled them within 21-17 with 5:05 to play in the half.
After the teams traded 3s, Washington threw another lob to Justice Sueing, who slammed it home for a 26-20 lead. A moment later, Jallow laid in a Walker lob to make it 35-22. And on the final Ohio State possession of the half, Jallow nabbed a pass from Minnesota’s Marcus Carr, sprinted up the court and jammed it home.