No. 18 Ohio State Suffers First Loss of the Season to No. 16 Indiana – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2006
Box Score | Notes
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Marshall Strickland made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left, then stole the ball on Ohio State’s final possession to give No. 16 Indiana an 81-79 victory over the 18th-ranked Buckeyes on Saturday.
Indiana (10-2, 2-0 Big Ten) rallied from a 17-point first half deficit, its largest of the season, to win its sixth straight. Marco Killingsworth led the Hoosiers with 26 points. Strickland had 15.
Terence Dials led Ohio State (11-1, 1-1) with 25 points. Je’Kel Foster and Ron Lewis each scored 13 as the Buckeyes lost for the first time this season. The Buckeyes entered Saturday as one of six unbeaten teams left in Division I.
It was another bruising Big Ten game. The Buckeyes’ strong defense in the first half never allowed Indiana to get into a rhythm, and foul trouble plagued Dials for most of the second half. The teams combined for 43 fouls and 50 free throws.
Indiana trailed 38-21 with 3:54 left in the first half, but charged back with a 9-0 run near the end of the first half to close to 40-32.
The Hoosiers continued their surge early in the second half, opening with a 3-pointer from Robert Vaden and back-to-back 3s from Strickland. Killingsworth followed with a short jumper and a three-point play to give the Hoosiers their first lead at 46-45.
The Buckeyes answered with three straight 3s to retake a 56-49 lead, and Indiana retook the lead at 66-64 thanks to a 9-1 run.
But with the Buckeyes clinging to a 79-78 lead, Lewis Monroe drew a foul and hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:31 left to tie the score at 79. After Dials missed a 5-footer with 25.3 seconds left, Strickland forced a jump ball on the rebound to give Indiana possession. Strickland then drew a foul on Dials, his fifth, with 5.7 seconds left, and the Big Ten’s top free-throw shooter made both to give Indiana the lead.
Strickland then stripped Matt Terwilliger of the ball to preserve the win.
