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Men's Basketball
Boilermakers Avenge Home Loss as Diebler’s Buzzer-Beater Falls Short
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS – Jon Diebler had the chance to play hero Wednesday night, but his game-tying three fell short at the buzzer as No.4 Purdue (22-3, 10-3 Big Ten) handed Ohio State its first home loss of the season.
“I got a good look, I should have knocked it down,” said Diebler, who was fading to his right and falling away.
After trailing the entire game, the ninth-ranked Buckeyes (20-7, 10-4) found themselves within three points of the visiting Boilermakers after Evan Turner grabbed the defensive rebound off a missed shot from E’Twaun Moore.
William Buford’s layup was blocked on the ensuing breakout, but Diebler got an excellent look at the basket from 21 feet on a shot that would have sent the game to overtime. Instead, Purdue avenged its home loss with a 60-57 win over the Buckeyes.
“I couldn’t have drawn up a play to get a better look than we he got there,” said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta, who opted not to call for a timeout to set up a shot on the final possession of the game.
“They were on their heels and we’re confident we’re going to make a shot,” Turner said.
“We had one of the best three-point shooters taking a shot and it just didn’t go in.”
Much like they did in their 70-66 win in West Lafayette, the Buckeyes outscored the Boilermakers in the second half, 34-24. Unlike that game, however, they could not overcome a double-digit halftime deficit of 36-23 as they never got closer than two points thanks to 50 percent shooting from Purdue.
The crowd was late getting to Value City Arena Wednesday night, but the fans didn’t look like they were the only ones to show up late.
“The first half they took us out of our rhythm,” Diebler said after the Buckeyes turned the ball over 11 times in the first half while shooting 37.5 percent from the floor.
“The second half we were executing but the start of the game killed us. They came out and put us on our heels.”
After thumping Illinois soundly in their building Sunday, the Buckeyes appeared sluggish in their return to Columbus Wednesday for a marquee showdown with the No. 4 team in the country.
“It slipped away from us in the first 20 minutes,” said Turner, who still finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“Some of us didn’t have our heads right. We didn’t attack the way we were supposed to. We were digging ourselves out of a hole for most of the game and it kind of just carried over.”
Despite a scoreless first half from Robbie Hummel, who dropped 29 on Ohio State in the first half of their last meeting, the Boilermakers got out to a 29-14 lead thanks in large part to JaJuan Johnson. The 6-10 center scored 10 of Purdue’s first 16 points and 24 of their 60 overall as he had his jumper going all night long.
“Those were some tough shots and that’s a heck of a basketball player right there,” Diebler said of the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week.
“Dallas (Lauderdale) is one of the best shot blockers in the country, but he hit some tough shots. He was catching it off the break and hitting turnaround jumpers.”
After scoring only four points in the last meeting with Lauderdale, Johnson had 15 at the half against Ohio State Wednesday. The Boilermakers also got 11 in the first half from senior Keaton Grant off the bench as they shot 15-25 (60 percent) from the floor and 4-of-7 (57 percent) from behind the arc.
“We put ourselves in a good position,” Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter said.
“We knew they would make a run. Luckily, they seemed to get into a bit of a lull around the same time we did and we also did a good job of disrupting them.”
They did very little to disrupt Turner who went for 16 of his 29 in the second half on 5-of-8 shooting. He scored eight-straight points for the Buckeyes to make it a seven-point game with his layup at the 12:38 mark. But the Buckeyes settled for 10 straight jump shots over the next eight minutes, including seven in a row after getting in to the bonus at the 10:14 mark.
“That’s how we play, but I thought we needed to punch it (inside) a little bit more than we did,” Matta said.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, Buford caught fire on his long jumpers as he went on a 7-0 run by himself to bring his team within two points at 48-46 with 9:44 to play. He had a chance to make it a one-point game at the 7:42 mark but his wide open three wouldn’t fall. Neither would Diebler’s 30 seconds later as the Boilermakers survived Ohio State’s comeback bid for a 60-57 win.
Up next, the Buckeyes will travel to East Lansing for a battle with first-place Michigan State Sunday (noon ET, CBS).
“We’ve got to be a better basketball team on Sunday than we were today,” Matta said just before leaving the post-game interview room.
Game Notes:
* Wednesday's game was the first sell-out of the season at Value City Arena and the 61st in it's history. It was also the Buckeyes' first loss at home this year. They are now 15-1 in the building.
* The game Wednesday was the first Top-10 match-up at Value City Arena since Feb, 25, 2007. On that day, No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 2 Wisconsin, 49-48.
* Purdue leads the all-time series with Ohio State 82-75. The loss snapped a six game Ohio State home win streak against the Boilermakers. The Buckeyes are now 50-28 against Purdue in games played in Columbus, 6-1 in Value City Arena.
* Thad Matta's record is now 249-84 in his 10th season all-time as a head coach. He is 147-53 in his sixth year at Ohio State. His .735 winning percentage over 200 games is tied with Fred Taylor for the best in OSU history.
* Evan Turner led all scorers with 29 points. He now has 1,294 for his career.
* Turner’s 3-pointer at 14:14 of the second half earned him the No. 24 position on Ohio State’s all-time scoring list, passing Clark Kellogg. He needs 19 points to pass Jamar Butler for No. 23 all-time (1,313).
* Turner averaged 30.5 points against the Boilermakers this season.
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