As the clock expired in Ohio State’s upset of number two Purdue, Buckeye students stormed the court with loud cheers echoing around a capacity crowd at Value City Arena last Sunday.
The 73-69 victory for Ohio State came after the Buckeyes fired seven year head coach Chris Holtman, after falling short of expectations the past few seasons.
Interim head coach, Jake Diebler, was able to energize his team after an emotional week as the Buckeyes rallied around each other and came out on top.
“What a resilient group. We have some great young men in there who came together at a high these last few days in a way that I don’t know if any of us fully anticipated that they could get to in a short amount of time,” Diebler said after the game, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Just the day before the game, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Committee revealed that Purdue was the number one overall seed in the bracket.
The Boilers entered the game 23-2 while Ohio State came in with a record of 14-11, losing nine of its last 11 games, according to ESPN.
Purdue jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and led 28-21 late in the first half but Ohio State closed the half on a 14-2 run to lead 35-30 at the break, according to ESPN.
In the second half, Purdue closed the gap to 41-38 but then Jamison Battle drilled three three-pointers in a row, which handed Ohio State a 50-38 advantage.
The Boilermakers began to slowly chip away at the deficit and ended up tying the game at 65 with 1:39 left in the game when Lance Jones hit a three-pointer, which prompted the Purdue fans who made the trip to make some noise in enemy territory.
However, the cheers didn’t last long as Jamison Battle hit a jump-shot and gave the Buckeyes the lead once more 67-65. Then, free-throws by Bruce Thornton and Battle sealed the win for Ohio State as the game ended 73-69.
According to AP, Thornton finished with 22 points as Battle finished with 19.
With the win, Buckeye fans celebrated and praised interim coach Diebler, as he won his first game as the head coach. The victory was then topped off with a court storm by the Buckeye fans.
Purdue fell to 23-3 (11-3, Big Ten), while Ohio State improved to 15-11 (5-10, Big Ten).
