Jones, Michigan beat No. 23 Ohio State; B10 tourney up next
DeVante’ Jones scored 21 points and Michigan rallied in the second half, wrapping up its up-and-down Big Ten regular season by beating No. 23 Ohio State 75-69 Sunday.
Fill-in coach Phil Martelli guided the Wolverines (17-13, 11-9) as coach Juwan Howard finished out his five-game suspension for hitting a Wisconsin assistant in a postgame handshake line.
Howard is expected back on the sidelines when the Big Ten conference begins this week.
E.J. Liddell recorded his eighth double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Ohio State (19-10, 12-8).
Seedings for the conference tourney are still to be determined.
Trailing by as many as nine points in the first half and down by seven at the break, the Wolverines went on a 14-1 run midway through the second to jump ahead 56-44 with 10:18 left.
The Buckeyes pulled within four points with 11 seconds remaining, but Terrance Williams II made a pair of free throws to seal it.
Williams added 17 points for the Wolverines while Eli Brooks and Moussa Diabate scored 14 apiece.
Malaki Branham led Ohio State with 18 points and Justin Ahrens had 12, including four 3-pointers.
Dickinson unavailable
Wolverines 7-foot-1 center Hunter Dickinson missed Sunday’s game due to a stomach ailment.
Big picture
Michigan: The Wolverines’ offense took a blow in Dickinson’s absence, shooting 41% after reaching at least 50% in the last three games.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes dropped their fourth game against unranked teams in their last seven outings. Opponents have shot 42.2% or better in six of those games. RUTGERS 59, PENN STATE 58 » Senior Ron Harper Jr. scored 15 points and hit a go-ahead free throw with 1:41 to play as Rutgers edged Penn State 59-58 after blowing a 15-point second-half lead on Sunday.
Caleb McConnell added two more free throws with 31.4 seconds left and Geo Baker made one to give the Scarlet Knights (18-12, 12-8 Big Ten) a 59-55 lead with 17 seconds to play.
Sam Sessoms closed the lead to 59-58 with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play. He had a chance to win the game after Paul Mulcahy threw away an inbounds pass next to the Penn State bench with four seconds left.
Sessoms took a crosscourt pass and his very contested 3-pointer at the buzzer came up short.
The Nittany Lions had a chance to tie the game at 58 with 20 seconds to go but Greg Lee also missed a 3-pointer.
Cliff Omoruyi and Dean Reiber added nine points apiece for Rutgers, which did not score a basket in the final 5:35.
John Harrar had 15 points and 17 rebounds for Penn State (12-16, 7-13), which lost its third straight game. It was his 11th double-double of the season. Seth Lundy added 17 points and Sessoms finished with 13. The Nittany Lions were 6 of 24 from long range.
Rutgers twice led by 15 points in the second half, the last time at 46-31 with 12:39 left in regulation.
At that point, it seemed the Scarlet Knights were taking another step closer to a second straight NCAA Tournament berth. They almost blew it and the way the game ended didn’t help their chances of getting an at large berth. Rutgers was 9 of 17 from the free throw line.
Omoruyi picked up two fouls in the opening 61 seconds and it didn’t hurt the Scarlet Knights. Reiber came off the bench and quickly hit a 3-pointer and converted an ally-oop dunk that sparked an 18-7 run. Reiber finished with all nine of his points in the half as the Scarlet Knights built a 29-21 lead.
The Scarlet Knights used an 11-0 run bridging the end of the first half and the start of the second to build a 36-21 lead.