John Mobley Jr. scored 19 points and Bruce Thornton had 11 of his 17 points in the second half as Ohio State routed Penn State 83-64 on Thursday in State College, Penn.
Devin Royal added 15 points and eight rebounds and Micah Parrish chipped in 12 points for Ohio State (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten), which has won three straight games.
Yanic Konan Niederhauser led Penn State with 21 points and Zach Hicks contributed 13 points. Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr. each tallied 10 points as the Nittany Lions (13-9, 3-8) lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.
For the second straight year, Penn State hosted a game in Recreational Hall, where the team played until moving into the 15,261-capacity Bryce Jordan Center in 1996.
The Nittany Lions hoped support from the home fans in the historic gym would be the impetus to victory, but the Buckeyes had other plans.
Ohio State fell behind 4-2 before Mobley scored five straight points to give the Buckeyes the lead for good.
The visitors used a strong defensive effort – they had four steals in the first half – to stretch a nine-point lead to 43-28 with 1:08 left. The run was aided by a pair of Mobley free throws after a technical foul on Kern with 2:17 remaining.
Penn State scored the final five points of the first half to close within 43-33. The Nittany Lions made it a six-point game after Hicks hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half, but Ohio State responded with a five-point burst to go ahead 50-39.
Penn State never got closer than eight the rest of the way, with the Buckeyes boosting the margin to 20 on Aaron Bradshaw’s dunk that made it 78-58 with 4:41 to go.
Thursday was the fifth time the Nittany Lions have played in Rec Hall since 1996, including a win over No. 12 Illinois last season.
— Field Level Media
