Buckeyes Now

Malaki Branham Carries Buckeyes Past Indiana, For Thrilling Overtime Win

E.J. Liddell notches game-tying dunk with five seconds remaining to force emotional overtime period

Spencer German

A thriller. A nail-biter. An instant classic. Call it whatever you want. But for the Buckeyes, an 80-69 overtime win over Indiana on Monday was much needed.

It certainly wasn't pretty. Ohio State knocked down just a single field goal from the 15-minute mark of the second half until the closing seconds of the game, blowing a 10-point lead in the process as Indiana went on a 14-2 run.

And yet, just a week away from the month associated with "madness" somehow, someway the Bucks forced overtime, when (who else) E.J. Liddell slammed home a game-tying dunk that nearly blew the roof off of the Schottenstein Center with five seconds to go. That lit the spark on a 17-6 run in OT that propelled OSU to victory.

Despite his heroics, Monday night was not about Liddell. For the second time this season, the junior had to grind to get double-digit points against the Hoosiers. This was Maliki Branham's night.

The St/ Vincent St. Mary's product carried the Bucks with a smooth 27 points, adding five boards, a couple of assists and two blocks to go with it. It was the freshman's second straight game with 20-plus points and it came less than a week after OSU headman Chris Holtmann made it clear his team needs other's to contribute beyond his star player, Liddell. He got his wish.

Eugene Brown III was another key contributor in this one – particularly early on when OSU struggled to knock down shots. He finished the night with 10 points, six rebounds and an emphatic second-half block that would have been the play of the game if not for Liddell's game-tying dunk.

An emotional win like this one could prove to be massive for Ohio State with March lurking. It won't mask some of this team's deficiencies though. Similar problems that marred the Buckeyes in Saturday's double-digit loss to Iowa, reared their ugly head again against the Hoosiers as the scarlet and gray surrendered 15 offensive boards and lost the turnover battle 12-11.

That said, any team would agree it's better to learn from a win than a loss. It's also impossible to deny this Buckeye team's resiliency – a trait that will be immensely important next month.

When OSU opened up the night shooting just 25-percent from both the floor and three through the first five minutes of play, it was a sign of things to come.

Despite knocking down just three deep balls in the half, the paint proved valuable tonight as the Bucks racked up nearly half their first-half points from in close. That effort allowed them to build a five-point lead at the break, 33-28.

Ohio State opened up the second half of play with a statement, scoring on their first seven possession shots to balloon the lead to 10, 49-39. Just when it appeared that the Bucks had greased up the wheels and were poised to run away from Indiana came a brutal cold stretch spanning six and a half minutes.

Slowly but surely the Hoosiers crept their way back before tying and taking the lead on a pair of Trayce Jackson-Davis free throws with about 6:30 to play.

But that March magic arrived a early for the Buckeyes tonight and against all odds, they forced overtime and poured it on the rest of the way.

The Bucks will look to harness the emotion from this and use it when they visit Illinois on Thursday, the first of a five-game home stretch to close out the season.

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Published
Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

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