Ohio State Buckeyes Advance to NIT Quarterfinals with 81-73 Win Over Virginia Tech Hokies

The Ohio State Buckeyes were caught up in a free throw battle against the Virginia Tech Hokies Saturday.

Ohio State's Bruce Thornton once again carried the Buckeyes to a win, this time over the Virginia Tech Hokies. / David Berding/GettyImages

It was a true battle from the charity stripe.

Thanks to a near-perfect day from the line for Ohio State (21-13, 9-11 Big Ten), the Buckeyes took down Virginia Tech (19-15, 10-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) 81-73 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament behind a great scoring distribution and free throw shooting all around.

The Hokies got off to a fast 7-0 start as the Buckeyes could not buy a bucket the first three-and-a-half minutes. However, once they started connecting, Ohio State couldn’t stop.

The Buckeyes, who are generally very good in transition both ways, found trouble converting on the fastbreak Saturday. Virginia Tech consistently kept pace with Ohio State in the first half, getting back on defense and preventing transition buckets.

Regardless, Jake Diebler’s squad went on a 10-0 run and eventually took the lead with eight minutes remaining in the first - even with leading scorers in sophomore guard Bruce Thornton and senior forward Jamison Battle not doing a lot of the offensive work.

Although Ohio State played great defense — limiting Hokie junior guard Sean Pedulla, an All-ACC Third Team honoree and Virginia Tech’s leading scorer, to just two points — they remained undisciplined, picking up three of their six fouls in the last three minutes. 

In addition, neither team shot the ball well at all from downtown, with Ohio State shooting 33 percent and Virginia Tech at just 17 percent.

Although sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. shot just 33 percent from the field, he led all first-half scorers with nine points as the Buckeyes led by 10 at halftime.

Both teams started the half well, although the Buckeyes played without Gayle for most of the second half before he returned with just over five minutes remaining. Every time Ohio State went down and scored, Virginia Tech responded almost immediately.

It certainly helped the Buckeyes that they were in the bonus with 13 minutes remaining, allowing them to draw future fouls more easily. But the Hokies drew two quick fouls on the Buckeyes immediately after this, so they had 10 minutes in the bonus as well.

With nine minutes left, the game turned into who can draw the most fouls. Pedulla picked up two and-1s while Ohio State was getting to the line almost every other possession. In fact, with six minutes remaining, the teams together shot 24-26 from the line in the second half.

Apart from free throws, Pedulla and graduate guard Hunter Cattoor became the dominant duo they had been in the regular season, combining for 25 points with five minutes remaining. Thanks mostly in part to the free throw battle, however, the Hokies were able to resurrect themselves, cutting the lead to as little as three.

Pedulla and Cattoor each finished with 18 points in the loss. On the other side, five players scored in double figures for the Buckeyes, led by Battle’s game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Dale Bonner also added a season-high 12 points.

As it happened so many times early in Big Ten play, Ohio State struggled to score down the stretch when the other team continued to dominate. There was a stretch with just over four minutes remaining where the Buckeyes missed seven shots in a row.

Overall, however, Ohio State went a near-perfect 26-28 on free throws out of their total 45 points in the second.

The Buckeyes advance to the NIT quarterfinals Tuesday or Wednesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where they will face the winner of Wake Forest and Georgia, with a playing time to be announced.