No. 14 Buckeyes build big lead, hold on to down Hawkeyes

1/23/2013

COLUMBUS — Deshaun Thomas, who missed part of the second half with a cut above his eye, scored 16 points and No. 14 Ohio State built a big lead and then held on to beat Iowa 72-63 on Tuesday night.

Thomas, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 21 points per game, sat out about three minutes while an open cut over his right eye was bandaged.

The Buckeyes (14-4, 4-2 Big Ten) led by 24 points with less than 13 minutes left but watched as Iowa cut the lead to four with 1:30 remaining.

Aaron White, an Ohio native playing his first college game in his home state, had 13 points for Iowa (13-6, 2-4).

Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith, Jr., both had 12 points and Evan Ravenel added 11 for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes used a 10-0 run bridging halftime to build a 24-point lead.

Iowa rallied to draw within five points on White's bank shot with 2:30 left.

Ohio State missed a shot but rebounded it, before Craft was called for an offensive foul.

White was fouled and hit the second of two to cut the lead to 63-59 with 1:30 remaining.

Craft added a foul shot with 1:02 left and, after forcing a turnover, Thomas made two more with 52.9 seconds remaining.

Roy Devyn Marble, who had a miserable shooting night for the Hawkeyes, then missed two free throws before Craft made two more to push the lead to 68-59 with 40 seconds left.

The victory finally broke a stalemate in the series, which began in 1915. Each team had won 75 meetings coming in. Ohio State has won eight straight against Iowa and 10 of the last 11. The Hawkeyes haven't won in Columbus since 2004.