BUCKEYES TO BROWNS
Mike Hall Jr. is selected 54th overall in the second round of the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.
True freshman Malaki Branham exploded for 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting and Jamari Wheeler added 16 points as No. 13 Ohio State scored the last five points in regulation to force overtime before ultimately prevailing 87-79 on the road against Nebraska.
Ohio State outscored the Cornhuskers 15-7 in the extra session to improve to 9-2 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Big Ten.
Trailing 72-67, Wheeler hit a clutch triple with 27 seconds left cutting Nebraska's lead to 72-70. Nebraska's Lat Mayen had a chance to put it away from the stripe but missed a pair of free throws setting the stage for E.J. Liddell to bury two free throws of his own following an offensive rebound, tying the game at 72 with 8.9 ticks left in regulation.
Nebraska's Derrick Walker had a chance for a game-winning putback but Gene Brown made a huge play, blocking the shot to force overtime.
Ohio State then got a pair of triples from Wheeler in overtime, along with one from Meechie Johnson, to take an 81-75 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Liddell struggled mightily on the night, missing 12 of 14 shots with three turnovers on the way to 10 points but his two free throws to force overtime, a key block late in overtime and two more free throws to provide the final margin served as key contributions late.
Zed Key owned the glass with 14 rebounds as Ohio State won the glass 42-34.
Make no mistake though, it was Branham's show as the freshman poured in 21 of Ohio State's 34 first half points before adding 14 more in the second half. Branham hit 6-of-10 from beyond the arc after his first 10 games as a Buckeye yielded five three-pointers on 15 attempts.
Bryce McGowens paced Nebraska with 18 points while Walker tallied 15 points and 10 boards.
Ohio State shot a solid 48% from the field but turned it over 16 times, giving Nebraska a 14-6 edge in points off turnovers.
The game was deadlocked at 44 apiece with 14:15 to play as Jimmy Sotos came off the bench to splash a triple and dish two assists, one to Key and another to Brown, to offset a pair of Nebraska free throws giving Ohio State a 51-46 lead with 12:18 left.
Nebraska simply would not go away however. After an Liddell three gave Ohio State it's biggest lead at 59-51 with 10:07 left, the Cornhuskers went on a 15-3 run to take a 66-62 lead with 4:32 to go, setting the stage for a spectacular finish.
Ohio State built an 11-4 lead at the first media timeout as Branham hit three triples in four tries while his teammates combined to shoot just 1-of-6 with three turnovers.
Turned out he was just getting warmed up as the freshman kept Ohio State in it for the duration of the first half thanks to 8-of-12 shooting including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.
After a Branham three gave the Buckeyes a 30-22 edge with 4:54 left in the opening half, Nebraska countered with a 10-0 run to take a 32-30 at the 1:24 mark. Holtmann quickly went to the hot hand in Branham and he answered with a jumper just inside the right elbow. After an errant three-point try from Nebraska's Kesei Tominaga, Key scored his only points of the half via a jump hook with nine seconds left allowing Ohio State to take a 34-32 lead into the locker room.
While Branham thrived in the opening 20 minutes, Liddell sputtered, missing 6-of-7 shots including 0-for-3 from downtown. He wasn't alone in his struggles as Johnson missed both of his field goal tries and turned it over twice and Justin Ahrens clanked all three of his triple tries.
Key owned the glass with nine first half rips as Ohio State built a 21-14 edge on the glass. Ohio State shot just 41% and committed eight turnovers in the opening half.
The win improves Ohio State to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Next up for the Buckeyes is a trip to Bloomington to take on Indiana at 7:00 p.m. Thursday night on FS1.
