No. 3 Ohio State relied on a rare commodity to derail Purdue’s young shooters Tuesday.
Experience.
LaQuinton Ross finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, both career-highs, and Shannon Scott added a career-best 18 points to help the Buckeyes pull away for a 78-69 win at Purdue — a victory that kept Ohio State among the shrinking group of teams that will take a perfect record into 2014.
“I thought down the stretch our veterans were as good as they could be,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.
It’s an unusual luxury for Ohio State, which has seen a regular parade of underclassmen leave early for the NBA draft. The list includes Greg Oden and Mike Conley to Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas.
Things are different this season. The Buckeyes have started the same two seniors and the same three juniors in all 14 games, so when things got tough in Tuesday’s Big Ten opener, the older Buckeyes buckled down and came up big every time Ohio State needed a play.
Ross and Scott, both juniors, combined for all of the points in a decisive 10-2 second-half run that finally gave Ohio State some breathing room. And, of course, the wily Aaron Craft continually turned Purdue miscues into game-changing moments. Craft finished with seven points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals against a team came into the game with four of the Big Ten’s top 10 freshman scorers, two of the league’s most dangerous sophomores and a perfect 8-0 record on their home court.
“Ten assists and zero turnovers speaks for itself,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said after losing to the Buckeyes for the fourth straight time. “He gets eight defensive rebounds, and he’s able to affect the game without scoring. There are not a lot of guys who can do that today, especially when they’re 6-foot-2.”
The combination has the Buckeyes (14-0, 1-0) rolling.
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