Local Teams

Justice Sueing and Duane Washington Jr. each had 16 points as No. 9 Ohio State held off a furious Minnesota rally for a 79-75 win in the second round of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis on Thursday.

The Buckeyes (19-8), the No. 5 seed, ended a four-game losing streak and advanced to the quarterfinals to play the fourth seed, No. 20 Purdue (18-8), on Friday.

Purdue won both games against the Buckeyes this season, 67-60 at home on Dec. 16 and 67-65 in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 19.

E.J. Liddell had 14 points, Kyle Young 11 and CJ Walker 10 for the Buckeyes, who nearly blew a 12-point lead in the final two minutes.

Marcus Carr scored 24 points, Jamal Mashburn Jr. had 18 and Tre' Williams added 11 for the Golden Gophers (14-15), who defeated Northwestern 51-46 on Wednesday night to end a seven-game losing streak.

Ohio State was ahead 72-60 with 1:38 to play but the Golden Gophers pulled to within 75-71 on a layup by Both Gach with 36 seconds left. After an offensive foul on Washington, Gach missed a 3-pointer.

Sueing missed two free throws and Carr nailed a 3-pointer to make it 75-74 with 13.3 seconds left.

Liddell made free throws to push the Ohio State lead to 77-74. Carr made the first of a one-and-one but Liddell grabbed the rebound on the miss and Washington made two foul shots with 2.6 seconds left for the final margin.

Ohio State led 39-27 at the half before the Golden Gophers started their push.

A triple by Williams cut the deficit to 53-49 at the 7:38 mark. Ohio State responded with 7-1 run. Sueing made a pair of free throws and Musa Jallow had a bucket before Brandon Johnson made one of two from the line for Minnesota. Walker had a basket-and-one to make it 60-50.

The Buckeyes then extended the lead to 70-56 on Washington's layup

-- Field Level Media