John Mobley Jr. set career highs with 28 points and eight 3-pointers. (Press Pros File Photos)
Ohio State helped its NCAA Tournament chances with a blowout victory at Penn State.
The Ohio State basketball team is healthy and playing its best basketball in the month that matters most.
The Buckeyes, fresh off their most important win of the season against then-No. 8 Purdue, went to State College, Pennsylvania, Wednesday night and did what the best teams in the Big Ten are supposed to do against last-place teams.
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Leave no doubt.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com. Follow on X @jw_gilbert
Every starter scored in double figures, John Mobley Jr. had a career night, and the Buckeyes dominated from the start for a 94-62 victory in front of 6,137 diehards at the Bryce Jordan Center.
In the final regular season game away from home, Mobley Jr. staked his claim for a piece of State College. He made a career-best eight 3-pointers in nine attempts and scored a career-high 28 points. Next up could be an NIL deal with the company that makes the bandage he wears on the two fingers of his shooting hand that protects the pinkie he broke a few weeks ago.
Mobley Jr. missed his first 3-point attempt. He made the rest starting with one at the 14:15 mark that put the Buckeyes ahead for good at 10-8. Before the half ended, Mobley Jr. 3-pointers pushed the lead to 21-9, 33-11 and 40-15. His eight threes marked the ninth time this season he has made five or more in a game.
“Going into this game, we felt like we had to make the extra pass,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “We felt like we had to play inside out, and I thought our guys executed that at a really high level. When you have a guy like John Mobley on your team, he’s capable of breaking the game open with the three ball at a high level.”
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Backing Mobley Jr. was Bruce Thornton with 18 points. Thornton needs 12 points to reach 2,097 and surpass Dennis Hopson as the school’s career scoring leader. He could do it against Indiana in his final home game Saturday.
Bruce Thornton is 12 points away from breaking Dennis Hopson’s school career scoring record.
Devin Royal and Amare Bynum added 14 points apiece and Christoph Tilly scored 10. Taison Chatman led the bench output with six. Royal came to the closest to a double-double with nine rebounds.
Pick a stat and the Buckeyes dominated it. They outshot Penn State (15-15, 5-14) 67% to 39%, outrebounded them 34-14, outscored them in the paint 36-16 and on the fast break 18-7.
The Buckeyes (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten) are still chasing an NCAA Tournament berth. Tournament projections by ESPN and Fox currently have them as an 11 seed playing in the First Four in Dayton. To hold that spot or move up to a 10 seed, it would behoove the Buckeyes to beat Indiana (18-12, 9-10) in Saturday’s 5:30 home game. The Hoosiers snapped a four-game losing streak Wednesday with a 77-47 win at home over Minnesota.
A win over Indiana could also secure the Buckeyes eighth place and a bye into the third round in next week’s Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
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