Ohio State dropped a tough one Thursday night at No. 25 Iowa, 65-61, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Ameryst Alston led four Buckeyes in double figures with 18 points and five assists before leaving the game in the final minutes with an injury.
Ohio State falls to 15-16 and 5-10 in Big Ten play and will wrap up the regular season at 2 p.m. ET Sunday at Minnesota.
In a wild back-and-forth game that saw 17 lead changes and nine ties, Iowa ultimately made the plays in the final minutes to deny Ohio State its third win over a ranked opponent this season.
After trailing 36-34 at the half, Ohio State went on an 8-0 run in the second half to take a 51-44 lead with 11:44 left. But Iowa responded after a timeout, scoring the next eight points in 3 minutes to take a 52-51 lead of its own. A runner in the lane by Raven Ferguson stopped the bleeding and gave Ohio State a 53-52 lead before Iowa extended its run to 17-4 over 6:31 to take a 61-55 lead, capped by a Melissa Dixon 3-pointer with 5:15 left.
Ohio State, though, showed it still had plenty in the tank. Minutes later, two Alston layups cut the lead to two, 61-59. Later on, two free throws by Ferguson cut the two yet again, but Ohio State couldn’t muster another field goal in the final 3 minutes and Iowa ultimately escaped with the four-point victory.
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