Buckeyes go cold in second half, lose at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — On a night that featured nine dunks between Ohio State and Indiana, Malik Reneau’s mattered most. The Hoosiers’ leading scorer, and surging sophomore, hung from the rim over Buckeyes senior center Zed Key after converting an alley-oop from veteran guard Trey Galloway.

The highlight-reel exchange had Assembly Hall rocking and put the Hoosiers up 10 points with about three and half minutes remaining Saturday.

Reneau dismounted and pounded his head.

Ohio State fans were left scratching their heads after the Buckeyes led for more than 20 minutes but went cold late in the second half.

A last-ditch Ohio State effort turned a 10-point deficit into a one-possession game, but it was too little, too late. Indiana hung on for a 71-65 win.

“This one will definitely sting, especially [for] me,” said Ohio State star Bruce Thornton, who finished 4-of-17 from the floor with just nine points. “You just understand how important road wins are.

“You try to get the most you possibly can.”

Ohio State (12-2, 2-2 Big Ten) is still searching for its first true road win since New Year’s Day last season.

The Buckeyes missed four of their first five shots Saturday night. All four of those misses came from beyond the arc. Thornton got Ohio State on the board with an and-one conversion, sinking a jumper and drawing contact from 7-foot Indiana center Kel’el Ware in the process.

But Indiana (11-4, 3-1) staked itself to a 9-5 lead by the first media timeout, thanks in part due to redshirt senior Xavier Johnson finding Mackenzie Mgbako for a 3-pointer and then driving to the basket himself for two points.

Johnson looked much more comfortable in his second game back from injury. It wasn’t long before he teed up a lob for Ware, who threw a two-handed dunk through the net.

That Johnson-Ware connection put Indiana in the driver’s seat, 15-8, and got Hoosiers fans on their feet. Jamison Battle silenced the sold-out, candy-striped crowd with a 3-pointer, his second of the night and third of the half.

That sparked a 12-0 Buckeyes run that featured a pair of Thornton jumpers from mid range, a Thornton steal that turned into a Battle 3-pointer from the right wing and a dunk from Key that will go on the senior’s highlight reel. Key was sandwiched between Reneau and fellow Indiana forward Kaleb Banks, and he still pulled off a posterizing, two-handed jam.

Key followed that up with his second 3-pointer of the season to extend Ohio State’s lead to 25-20.

Thornton picked up his second foul of the game at the 8:17 mark, resulting in freshman guard Taison Chatman getting some big-time Big Ten minutes on the road.

Chatman missed the early part of the year while recovering from offseason knee surgery, but he was thrust into first-half action at Indiana. He committed one of the Buckeyes’ seven turnovers in the opening frame, off which Indiana scored 13 points.

The first turnover-turned-dunk, however, was the byproduct of another freshman mistake. Forward Scotty Middleton fired a pass to center Felix Okpara, who wasn’t expecting the rock, or at least how fast it was coming — the ball bounced off Okpara’s chest, and Indiana guard CJ Gunn retrieved it before coasting down the court and thundering home a one-handed dunk.

Okpara fouled Gunn on the chase down, and Gunn netted the free throw.

Yet again, though, Battle was the silencer. A fadeaway jumper did the trick. Ohio State pushed its advantage to 30-23, courtesy of a heads-up thief by Roddy Gayle Jr., who poked the ball away from a rebounding Ware. From there, he located an open Middleton for a triple.

Chatman’s turnover was more costly than Middleton’s, except it wasn’t entirely on the first-year Buckeyes guard. He put touch on an inbound pass to Gayle. It was catchable, but a bit high, and Gayle couldn’t handle it. Galloway was the beneficiary.

The senior cashed in on the transition dunk for the Hoosiers. If you’re sensing a theme, that’s because there was one: Indiana had nine fastbreak points and four dunks in the first half.

Another came when Mgbako was left all alone while Ohio State scrambled for an offensive rebound. That was part of a 6-2 Indiana surge that saw the Hoosiers briefly take the lead. Johnson hitting a 3-pointer while being fouled by Buckeyes guard Dale Bonner was the other half of that equation.

Key shoved Ohio State back in front, 38-37, at the very end of the half with a pair of free throws.

Head coach Chris Holtmann’s team started the second half with authority. Battle followed up his own miss by dishing an assist to Okpara, who added a strong dunk to his three first-half blocks.

Gayle got the bump and foul from Galloway as well as his off-balanced jumper to go. He made the subsequent free throw. And then Battle poured in his fourth 3-pointer of the game to give the Buckeyes a 46-37 advantage.

The Hoosiers punched back with an 8-0 spurt of their own, led by three buckets from Reneau, including two soft hook shots.

Ohio State went more than five minutes without a point and committed four additional turnovers in that span.

Key ended the drought after he blocked Ware from behind, pulling down the Indiana big man’s shot attempt and kicking the Buckeyes’ offense into gear. On the other end, he scored on a pick-and-roll dunk, dropping Galloway on his screen to the chagrin of the Indiana crowd.

Reneau tied the game at 48-48 with a 3-pointer. The sophomore forward took over in the second half, recording 19 points and five rebounds in the final frame.

Ohio State piled up 22 offensive boards, 16 of which came in the second period. But the Buckeyes had mixed results on their second-chance opportunities.

On one hand, Key hauled in an offensive board before firing a pass to a cutting Gayle, who dunked a go-ahead basket to make it 52-50. On the other hand, there was a possession soon after where Ohio State missed back-to-back 3-pointers on two offensive rebounds. Thornton missed once, and Gayle missed once. They were a combined 7-of-34 from the field and 0-of-12 from deep.

While the Buckeyes couldn’t buy a basket, Indiana scored seven straight points: cue a Johnson 3-pointer, Gunn jumper — following Gayle’s fifth turnover — and another Reneau hook.

Middleton came to the rescue for Ohio State, knocking down a jumper out of the media timeout. But Gunn answered with a bang, a crowd-roaring 3-pointer that put Indiana ahead, 60-54.

Middleton’s jumper didn’t ignite the Buckeyes’ offense, either. His make was just one of two in a 10-shot sequence for the Buckeyes late in the second half.

The second bucket was a Thornton layup, after which Holtmann called a timeout.

“I think the ball a couple times stuck, and it needs to move better, particularly with our guards,” Holtmann said. “They got to see those situations, and our wings can’t have 10 turnovers. But, outside of that, I thought we had good looks that I really trust that we’ll make [going forward].”

Consecutive Reneau field goals, including his aforementioned alley-oop dunk gave the Hoosiers a double-digit lead.

Okpara and Gayle teamed up to make it 67-65 with less than two minutes to go, but that’s as close as the Buckeyes got.

Holtmann was asked postgame about how this kind of loss will test the Buckeyes’ leadership, and if he’ll look to players like Thornton and Battle in a moment like this.

“I think we’ll be tested throughout the whole Big Ten season,” Holtmann said. “It’s going to be one test after another, really, and those guys will respond. I really believe they’ll respond. And we need to.”

Thornton pointed out earlier: “Tomorrow morning, we gotta move on. We got a top-25 game against Wisconsin at home.”