Wildcats Unable to Hold Off Ohio State

2/9/2016 7:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Four Northwestern players reach double figures

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State used a pair of second-half runs to overcome Northwestern's halftime lead and top the Wildcats, 71-63, at Value City Arena Tuesday night.

Northwestern (16-9, 4-8 B1G) had four players score in double figures, while Ohio State (15-10, 7-5 B1G) had five players reach double digits, paced by Jaquan Lyle's game-high 15 points.

Bryant McIntosh and Tre Demps each scored 14 points, and Alex Olah and Scottie Lindsey came off the bench to score 11 and 10 points, respectively. Olah tallied nine rebounds to go along with his double-digit point total.

The Wildcats finished the contest by shooting 21-of-54 (38.9 percent) from the floor and 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) from behind the arc. Thirty-six of Northwestern's 63 points came from the 3-point line.

Ohio State made good on 41.1 percent (23-of-56) of its shots from the field.

Northwestern set an aggressive tone early, hitting from the 3-point line and crashing the boards. The Wildcats knocked down six 3-pointers and outrebounded the Buckeyes, 25-15, in the opening stanza. Gavin Skelly, a native of Westlake, Ohio, made his presence felt by grabbing seven first-half rebounds.

Demps hit one of his three 3-pointers at the 6:03 mark of the first half to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the period, 24-14.

Northwestern looked to its big men to close out the first half as Joey van Zegeren and Olah knocked down a pair of baskets down the final stretch to send the Wildcats into the locker room with a 33-26 advantage.

McIntosh began the second half by hitting consecutive 3-pointers to extend the lead to nine points, 39-30. The sophomore guard hit four shots from behind the arc on the night.

The Buckeyes answered Northwestern's early second-half scoring by going on a 7-0 run to cut into the lead. Lindsey stepped up and answered the bell for Northwestern by scoring five straight points to give the Wildcats a seven-point cushion, 44-37.

Ohio State remained resilient, scoring eight-unanswered points over a 2:36 stretch to retake the lead. After a McIntosh basket, Ohio State's Loving tied the game at 50-50 with a 3-point field goal.

The final five minutes featured a flurry of scoring from both teams, but Ohio State was able to pull ahead, 61-56, with just over two minutes in regulation.

Free throws by Trevor Thompson with just over 30 seconds to play would put Ohio State up, 66-60, and seal the win for the Buckeyes.

Northwestern returns home to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday, Feb. 13 to take on in-state rival Illinois at 7 p.m.

Northwestern Notes at Ohio State – Feb. 9, 2016
• Northwestern matched a season high for a Big Ten game with 12 3-pointers in the contest. The Wildcats recorded the same total in their previous game against Minnesota on Feb. 4. The team's overall season-high for 3-pointers is 15.
• Bryant McIntosh hit a team-high four 3-pointers in the contest, one shy of his season and career high. He hit five triples vs. Columbia on Nov. 20.
• McIntosh dished out a game-high 6 assists to raise his Northwestern single-season record total to 165.
• Ohio native Gavin Skelly (Westlake) recorded 7 rebounds in the contest, one shy of his career high. All 7 of the rebounds came in the first half.
• Tre Demps had 13 field goal attempts in the contest, bringing his career total to 1,286 and moving him past Jim Burns into sixth place in Northwestern history in the category.
• Alex Olah finished one rebound shy of a double-double, posting 11 points and a team-high 9 rebounds off the bench.
• Scottie Lindsey contributed 10 points off the bench for his sixth double-figure scoring game of the season and his second in the last three games.