D.J. Newbill hit a pull-up jumper over Aaron Craft with 2 seconds left in overtime, lifting Penn State to a 71-70 victory over No. 24 Ohio State on Wednesday night and ending years of futility against the Buckeyes.
“There were 11 seconds left, we were down by one. I just cleared out one side of the floor,” Newbill said. “I knew they were going to try to stop me from going to the right because they’d been shading me left the whole game. I just made a quick, right-to-left crossover and pulled up with confidence. Fortunately, it went down.”
Newbill, who led the Nittany Lions (11-10, 2-6 Big Ten) with 25 points, also hit a 3 that forced the extra session.
He didn’t know, or even care, who was guarding him on the last shot. Craft is considered one of the nation’s best one-on-one defenders.
“They did everything they needed to down the stretch,” Craft said. “They made shots, they made big plays, they rebounded the ball. We just didn’t do it.”
Ohio State (16-5, 3-5) has lost five of six after a 15-0 start which saw it rise to No. 3 in the polls.
Brandon Taylor added 19 points and Graham Woodward had 11 as Penn State ended Ohio State’s string of victories in the series at 18. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta was 17-0 against Penn State since taking over as head coach in 2004-05.
Nittany Lions coach Patrick Chambers said the subject of Ohio State’s domination wasn’t brought up.
“We never mentioned it. That’s over. We’re a new team,” he said. “We can’t be concerned about the past.”
Newbill said he had no idea that Ohio State had controlled the series.
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