Boo Buie and Brooks Barnhizer each scored 19 points and Northwestern defeated Ohio State 69-63 Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, to extend the Buckeyes’ losing streak to five games.
Chase Audige added 12 points for the Wildcats (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten), who have won five of their past seven.
Justice Sueing led the Buckeyes (11-13, 3-10) with 19 points and Bruce Thornton chipped in with 12.
Ohio State got a 73-57 road victory over Northwestern on Jan. 1 to go 2-0 in the Big Ten but it has been downhill since.
The Buckeyes, who missed 13 of 14 3-point attempts Thursday, have lost 10 of the past 11 games since that win.
Ty Berry’s 3-pointer, his only points of the game, increased the Wildcats’ lead to 51-47 with eight minutes left and Barnhizer, who set a career high in points, extended the margin to 61-52 on a 3-pointer with 4:44 left, prompting an Ohio State time.
Sueing started a rally with five unanswered points before Audige drilled a 3-pointer to make it 64-57 with 2:04 left.
The Buckeyes pulled to with 67-63 and had the ball with 7.6 seconds left but Sean McNeil missed a 3-pointer. Audige grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to conclude the scoring.
Ohio State leading scorer Brice Sensabaugh did not start for the second straight game. He scored four points and had four turnovers in 16 minutes.
His 17.3 points per game is second nationally among freshmen, but he played only six minutes in the first half and missed two shots. Sensabaugh made his third shot to give the Buckeyes a 43-42 lead with 12:32 to play.
Columbus had not been hospitable to Northwestern, where the Wildcats are 16-71 but improved to 2-15 at Value City Arena.
Northwestern overcame a cold spell to take a 28-27 halftime lead when Nick Martinelli made a spinning bank shot from the left side of the court at the buzzer.
–Field Level Media