The Gophers men’s basketball team forced overtime for the second time in two weeks, but again fell short in the extra five minutes on Tuesday.
After losing 70-69 in OT to Southern Cal at home on Jan. 9, Minnesota dropped another one, 82-74 to Ohio State at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The opening 40 minutes was nip and tuck with 18 lead changes and 11 ties, but the Buckeyes controlled it in overtime, outscoring shorthanded Minnesota 15-7.
“The good news is we are right there,” head coach Niko Medved said in the KTLK-AM postgame show. “… But now we have had a few of these and we got to find a way to come out the other side.”
Minnesota (10-9, 3-5) has now lost four straight games, including the loss on a buzzer-beater to Wisconsin at home last Tuesday. Ohio State (13-5, 5-3 Big Ten) was barely able to cover as a seven-point home favorite.
Senior guard Bruce Thornton, who was third in the conference at 20.5 points per game, had a three-point play to give the Buckeyes a 67-65 lead with 54 seconds left. Thornton then had six points in overtime to give the veteran 23 in the game., while John Mobley Jr., led the Buckeyes with 26.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 20-plus points for a third straight game and finished with a career-high 26. Struggling to shoot from deep, Crocker-Johnson instead drove to the basket with regularity in the second half.
Already down two injured starters, wing Cade Tyson fouled out with three minutes left in overtime. He finished with 15 points.
At the end of regulation, Langston Reynolds and Tyson had great looks on the final possession, but Reynolds couldn’t convert at the rim, while Tyson was off on a corner 3-pointer. There might have been a uncalled goaltending against the Buckeyes on the final possession.
“I have not see the play,” Medved said on the radio. “My staff told me we had it point-blank at the rim. It’s too bad. It would have been an incredible way to win the game, walk-off with a win here. But we didn’t. At the end of the day we just couldn’t quite come up with a couple of stops that we needed.”
The Buckeyes out-rebounded the Gophers 42-31 and made eight more field goals.
The Gophers fell behind 10-0 and missed their opening nine shots, but worked their way to the free-throw line and broke out of their drought from the field to take a 16-12 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.
The rest of the half was back and fourth and then stagnant with both teams missing a combined 10 shots, including eight threes over a four-minute stretch. Thornton ended the unsightly stretch with a late bucket for a 31-28 lead at the break.
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