Roddy Gayle Jr. and Jamison Battle each scored 17 points when second-seeded Ohio State survived pesky Cornell for an 88-83 win in a first-round game of the NIT on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
The Buckeyes (21-13), who came from behind in the final minute, next will play Virginia Tech on Saturday or Sunday. Virginia Tech beat Richmond 74-58 on Tuesday.
Cornell (22-8), playing in the NIT for the first time, was outrebounded 51-32. The game had 17 lead changes and six ties.
Felix Okpara had 16 points and Bruce Thornton added nine for the Buckeyes.
Isaiah Gray scored a career-high 19 points and Guy Ragland Jr. had 17 for the Big Red.
Gray’s layup with 1:04 to play gave the Big Red an 81-79 lead before Battle’s high-arcing 3-pointer from the left side with 41 seconds to go put Ohio State ahead by one.
After the Buckeyes got the ball on a steal by Gayle, Devin Royal broke the press for a layup with 30 seconds left to make it 84-81.
Gray drove to the basket but missed an open layup. The Buckeyes rebounded with 13.6 seconds left and Dale Bonner made two foul shots. A layup by Cornell’s Nazir Williams cut the gap to 86-83 with 3.6 seconds left before Evan Mahaffey canned a pair of free throws for the final margin.
Big Red leading scorer Chris Manon did not play because of a foot injury. He averaged 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals while shooting 56 percent from the floor this season. Ohio State’s Scotty Middleton was absent because he returned to Florida for a family matter.
The game was the first for Jake Diebler as permanent head coach of the Buckeyes. As interim coach, he led the Buckeyes to a 6-2 record after Chris Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14.
Diebler, 37, signed a five-year contract on Sunday to be the 15th head coach in program history.
The Buckeyes did not get off to a great start but used a 12-2 spurt to take a 44-38 halftime lead.
Ohio State trailed 33-26 before fighting back for a 37-36 edge on a Battle triple. Battle and Gayle each had 10 points in the first half.
–Field Level Media
