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Sports

Thompson pushes Buckeyes past Penn State

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

University Park, PA – Sam Thompson paced Ohio State with 16 points as the 14th-ranked Buckeyes rolled past Penn State, 65-51, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"Sam was tremendous today. I really challenged Sam to play his best basketball and I think from the standpoint of what he brought to the table today, I couldn't be happier," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said about Thompson. "He was very instrumental in terms of our success today."

Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith Jr. followed with 11 points apiece for Ohio State (15-4, 5-2 Big Ten), which won for the fourth time in five games.

Jermaine Marshall led the Nittany Lions (8-12, 0-8) with 16 points as Penn State dropped its 18th straight meeting with the Buckeyes.

D.J. Newbill added 15 points and six assists in defeat.

After a Newbill layup tied the score at 11-11, Ohio State reeled off a 14-1 run to go on top, 25-12, as Penn State failed to make a shot from the floor for over 11 minutes until Marshall connected on a 3-pointer with a little over two minutes left in the first half.

Sasa Borovnjak made the back end of a pair of free throws to account for the Nittany Lions' lone point in that stretch.

Penn State was held to just 29.2 percent from the floor in the first half, including a 2-for-10 performance from beyond the arc, and trailed 29-18 at the break.

"I felt like we had really good shots and for whatever reason they're not going down right now," Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said.

The Nittany Lions followed Thompson's opening three-point play with a 7-2 push to cut its deficit to single digits, 34-25, but the Buckeyes responded with a 9-2 run to regain a 16-point cushion and maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

Game Notes

Penn State ended the game shooting 36.2 percent from the floor and 4-for-17 from three-point range ... The Buckeyes connected on 43.8 percent of their shots ... Penn State's last victory in the series was a 64-47 victory in the Jordan Center in 2004 ... Ohio State improved to 16-2 against Penn State as a ranked team.