Ohio State Rallies Past Wisconsin 61-57

INDIANAPOLIS—Evan Turner scored 19 points Friday and Ohio State held Wisconsin without a field goal for the final 6 minutes in a 61-57 victory in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

The Badgers led 54-47 with 6 minutes to go but missed their final seven shots, managing only one free throw by Marcus Landry and two by Jason Bohannon during the 14-3 run by the Buckeyes. Turner had six points during that stretch.

Fifth-seeded Ohio State (21-9), which lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten quarterfinals last year, will play the top-seeded and seventh-ranked Spartans in the conference semifinals Saturday.

Jeremie Simmons added 10 points for Ohio State. No. 4-seed Wisconsin (19-12) was led by Trevon Hughes with 15 and Bohannon with 13.

Ohio State never led by more than one point until the final minute of the game.

A 3-pointer by Jon Diebler capped an 8-0 run and gave the Buckeyes a 54-55 lead before the final tie on the free throw by Landry. Turner put Ohio State ahead 57-55 on a spinning layup, and two free throws by P.J. Hill put the Buckeyes up by four.

Wisconsin, which won the tournament last year, cut the lead to 59-57 on the two free throws by Bohannon, but Simmons iced the game with two foul shots with 7 seconds left.

Poor shooting hurt both teams at the start, although Wisconsin took a 22-16 lead after Turner, the Big Ten scoring leader this season, left with his second foul with 6 minutes left in the opening period.

The Buckeyes then started shooting 3-pointers and held the Badgers scoreless for the final 2:30.

A basket by Dallas Lauderdale cut Wisconsin’s lead to four. Then, after a technical foul on the Wisconsin bench, William Buford and Lauderdale each hit one of two free throws, and Buford hit a 3-pointer with less than a second left to give Ohio State a 29-28 lead at the half, matching its biggest lead of the game to that point.

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