Penn State Basketball falls at Home to Ohio State, tournament hopes dead

Penn State Basketball nearly upset the Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday night, but in defeat likely saw its NCAA tournament hopes evaporate

Penn State Basketball had another second half lead, but a huge Buckeyes run allowed Ohio State to leave Happy Valley with a 92 – 82 win.

First Half Bullet Points

• The Nittany Lions don’t play smart sometimes. Penn State gets an offensive rebound with 15 seconds left in the half, resetting the shot clock.  Instead of holding for the last shot, Sessoms drove to the rim.  He got fouled and made both.  Awesome, right?  Except for the eight seconds left on the clock, leading to a Buckeye three to lead by four at the half.  With the shot clock unplugged, you have to assure at worst you play the last seconds at a draw.  Penn State managed to drop a point in that situation.
• Part of that play was leaving the Buckeyes best three-point shooter, Justin Ahrens, wide open. I love that defensively PSU religiously followsthe plan when it comes to double teaming.  But you CAN’T double off a shooter.  Ahrens was 3-4 from 3 in the first half.  You can’t leave him open.
• Another example was Harrar committing his second foul with less than two minutes in the half.  No problem with that, dude was balling (9 pts, 5 boards, 2 dimes).  But the second he checks out, OSU goes down low and gets an easy and-1 with E.J. Liddell.  Yoiu HAVE to know the Buckeyes are going to do that.  And if you get burned, don’t give him the easy extra point from the stripe!
• Jamari Wheeler saved the day.  He had 11 points in the first half on just five shots, including three from beyond the arc.  Unfortunately, he injured himself committing a blocking foul with a minute left (which itself was a dumb foul, giving a 95% free throw shooter a free two points from the stripe).
• 7-for-13 from three-point range was refreshing but there’s a reason.  They were mostly good, open shots.
• Sessoms is required to committ one dumb live ball turnover every half, isn’t he?
• Buttrick tries but he just can’t defend anyone.  He continually gets beat off the dribble.  He had two boards and a steal but missed his only three and just isn’t bringing enough to earn real conference minutes.
• The Seth Lundy enigma continues.  He made a three (on his only first half shot) but twice stepped out of bounds before shooting.  His one rebound and zero assists aren’t enough for a guy who is supposed to be a huge piece of the pie.
• Myreon Jones has no confidence shooting anything but threes.  He missed an early floater, got a drive blocked and never attempted another.
• The four point Buckeye lead was appropriate for the play.  Ohio State shot amazingly and we hit a lot of threes.  OSU had a 9 point lead.  PSU tied it up a few times but never led past 2-0.  Onto the 2nd half…

Penn State came out of the halftime tunnel strong and took their first lead off a Lundy three, 50-49 with 17:09 left.

Lundy was just getting started and he would hit two more threes in between a Buttrick and-1 as the Lions buit a 59-52 lead with 14:50 left.  Some poor shot selections followed (more below) and just like that, OSU was back up 64-61 at the under 12 media time out and with a free throw to follow.  Ugh…

Following a reckless Lundy charge, two offensive rebounds by the Buckeyes and a very tough foul call on Harrar for his fourth foul and that seemed to be the end for the Lions as Ohio State led 66-61 with 10:23 to go.

Lundy then missed the front end of a one-and-one (can he do anything but shoot an open three anymore?) was another huge wasted opportunity for the Lions to end the Buckeye run.  Brockington then missed a wide open three and OSU responded with a three of their own.  A 15-0 run and the Buckeyes are up 69-61 with 9:33 to go.

It was 74-66 Ohio State as Liddell picked up his fourth…but nope they changed the call.  Natch.  Harrar didn’t get that treatment on his fourth foul when plenty of other Nits were around.

Fine, Dread drew the charge on Liddell FOR SURE THIS TIME.  Fourth foul and PSU had a chance to make it a one possession game, 7:18 left down 74-68 even without scoring a field goal in the last 7 minutes.

A Brockington layup ended the drought to cut it to 4 but Kyle Young burned Buttrick off the dribble to push it back to 6.  Dread missed an open three but the Lions buckeled down and forced a shot clock violation (that cost the Nits a fast break).

John Harrar, with four fouls, then officially reentered the game.  An absolutely sweet inbounds pass from an awkward position by Wheeler with three on the shot clock hit a streaking Brockington; 76-72 Ohio State with 5:06 to play, Buckeyes in possession after a Ferry timeout.

Dread got another good look that could have cut to 1 but it rimmed out.  Kyle Young made two free throws off a Buttrick foul to push it to 6 as Harrar checked back in for offensive purposes.  A live ball Wheeler turnover gave OSU an easy layup and PSU trailed by 8.  Myreon Jones answered with a rainbow three that was desparately needed but Harrar was called for a foul going for a rebound on the other end as OSU with a 5 point lead and shooting two free throws would not have to worry about John Harrar for the final 2:51.

OSU made both and Myreon only made 1, Buckeyes by 6 with 2:38 to go.  Can someone step up and win the game for us?  A Jones swipe led to a Buttrick steal but Buttrick turned it over under the basket, unable to control the pass.   E.J. Liddell then rose up for the dagger three.  Ouch.  Dread answered with a three of his own and Jim Ferry called timeout but it seemed too little too late.  Can’t be trading points trailing by 6 with 90 seconds left.

The Buckeyes were just not cooperating.  Duane Washington drove in for an and-1 and their lead was 9 with 52.8 seconds.  This ain’t no Duke vs Maryland 60 second shocker.   Dread made one of two free throws and Penn State was forced to play the foul game.  OSU made one of two, a forced Lundy three rimmed out, PSU got it back but Buttrick was out of bounds before he attempted a three.  Yup.  Sounds about right.  Some traded free throws and garbage time buckets and the final score margin was a Buckeye win by 10.