BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Malik Reneau made 10 of 16 from the field and scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half, Xavier Johnson added 18 points and Indiana beat Ohio State, 71-65, Saturday night.
Reneau scored nine points in an 11-2 run, capped by his 3-pointer, that made it 48-all with 12 minutes to play. He made a layup and followed about 30 seconds later with an alley-oop dunk that give Indiana a 10-point lead with 3:34 left. Jamison Battle answered with a 3, Felix Okpara made two free throws and then layup, but missed a free throw before Battle grabbed the offensive rebound. Roddy Gayle Jr. made a layup to cap a 9-1 run that cut Ohio State’s deficit to 67-65 with 1:44 left but Reneau answered with a basket 29 seconds later and Johnson made 2 of 4 from the free-throw line the closing seconds to cap the scoring.
Battle had 17 points and nine rebounds for Ohio State (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten), which had its four-game win streak snapped. Zed Key added 11 points. Okpara grabbed 15 rebounds to go with six points.
Indiana (11-4, 3-1) rebounded from an 86-70 loss at Nebraska. The Hoosiers were outrebounded 49-27 — including 22-7 on the offensive glass — but committed a season-low four turnovers and tied the season best with eight steals.
Johnson was fouled as he hit 3-pointer and converted the four-point play with 47 seconds left in the first half and made two free throws 38 seconds later to give Indiana a one-point lead. Zed Key answered with two free throws to make it 37-36 at halftime, Okpara opened the second half with a dunk, Gayle followed with a three-point play and Battle hit a 3 to stretch the lead to nine with 18 minutes remaining.
Ohio State plays host to No. 21 Wisconsin on Wednesday. Indiana visits Rutgers on Tuesday.
View more on Morning Journal