Ohio State (15-11, 7-8 Big Ten) fell on the losing side of a highly competitive, back-and-forth affair against arch rival Michigan Sunday afternoon in front of a jam-packed Value City Arena, suffering a 86-83 defeat to former Buckeye guard Roddy Gayle Jr. and the Wolverines despite a late-second half flurry.
In a game that had 16 lead changes and a number of game-changing runs from each team, the Buckeyes had a last-second chance to come out top when they scored on three straight possessions to tie the game at 80, and then — after four straight Wolverines points — tie it again at 85 on the game’s final possession. But OSU’s late comeback fell just short when junior guard Bruce Thornton airballed an open floater in the paint in the game’s final seconds, putting the home team just short of a big-time rivalry game win.
There were plenty of early fireworks in this game as the two teams traded early blows en route to an early 12-12 tie, but the intensity raised another level when Gayle — who transferred to Michigan over the offseason after two seasons with Ohio State — checked into the game at 15:17 to a chorus of boos from the Buckeye faithful.
Gayle made his presence felt early with a contested layup to put his team up 16-15, but it was answered by a quick 5-0 OSU run to put them up 21-16 with 13:10 left after a Devin Royal three.
The Buckeyes, who made five of their first threes, then went ice cold on offense. They missed 11 of their next 12 shots and committed four turnovers in 2:40, a stretch that allowed Michigan to go on a long 19-8 sequence to lead 35-29 with 5:48 left in the half after a pair of free throws by junior forward/center Danny Wolf.
OSU finally took the lid off the basket and broke a 7:03 scoring drought with a Micah Parrish layup to trail 35-33 with 2:35 left and start a more positive stretch of play, but Michigan took momentum into the half after 7-1 graduate center Vladislav Goldin tipped in a layup at the buzzer to put the Wolverines up 44-39.
The game continued to see-saw at a blazing pace at the start of the second half, with the Buckeyes cutting the deficit to one possession on multiple occasions only for the Wolverines to come right back and extend their lead. Ohio State finally broke through when it went on a 8-2 run to take a 65-63 lead after a Bruce Thornton layup, but another poor offensive stretch allowed Michigan to go on a 15-8 sequence to lead 78-73 after a fadeaway jumper by Wolf.
Ohio State climbed back again by scoring on three straight possessions to tie the game at 80 with just 1:54 left after a Bruce Thornton running jumper, but Michigan answered with a Gayle layup and Goldin third-chance layup on consecutive possessions to go up four with 52 seconds left.
The Buckeyes cut the deficit to one on the next possession with a Micah Parrish corner three with 32 seconds left, and after Wolf went one-for-one at the line, they had one final shot down two with just 16 seconds left.
With just seconds on the clock, Thornton drove past Michigan’s defense to get a clean look in the paint but airballed a running floater with just 0.2 seconds left, and the Wolverines made another free throw on the other end to ice the game.
Ohio State was led in the loss by Royal, who scored 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting — 3-of-5 from three — along with five rebounds and two steals. Thornton (17) and Mobley (16) each notched double figures, while Sean Stewart led the way on the glass with 10 rebounds.
Stewart’s efforts inside still weren’t enough to contain the dynamic duo of Goldin and Wolf inside, though, who combined for 37 points and 21 rebounds to help give the Wolverines a dominating 46-31 edge in rebounds and 46-34 advantage in paint points.
Gayle helped Michigan from the perimeter in his return to Columbus with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting.
Ohio State will look to get back in the win column on Thursday night when it hosts Northwestern at 6:30 p.m. (FOX Sports 1).
