Towson Tigers vs Ohio St. Buckeyes Match Player Stats On Dec 08, 2021

Kyle Young scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half as No. 21 Ohio State defeated Towson 85-74 on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio.

Justin Ahrens scored 16 points, E.J. Liddell 15 and Zed Key 13 for the Buckeyes (7-2), who have won three straight.

Jason Gibson came off the bench to lead Towson (6-4) with 19 points. Cameron Holden added 16, Nicolas Timberlake had 11 and Antonio Rizzuto scored 10 for the Tigers, who had won three in a row.

Ahrens scored 10 consecutive points for the Buckeyes on three 3-pointers and a free throw as they took a 76-63 lead with 5:24 to play.

He made 5 of 10 3-point attempts for the game despite going just 1 of 3 in the first half.

The Buckeyes shot 57.4 percent (27 of 47) from the floor to Towson's 43.6 percent (24 of 55).

Ohio State had to battle to take a 33-32 halftime lead after trailing 28-21. Eugene Brown III, who missed the previous four games with a concussion, started the rally with a 3-pointer to make it 28-24. The stretch ended when Key hit a jumper with seven seconds left for the lead.

Key led all scorers in the first half with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor.

Holden almost singlehandedly kept Towson in the game early in the second half, scoring nine of the team's 11 points to forge a 43-43 tie.

Ohio State then reeled off eight straight points on a layup by Malaki Branham, a Young 3-pointer and a Young three-point play.

Ohio State continued its momentum that began with a 71-66 win against then-No. 1 Duke on Nov. 30 that was followed by a 76-64 victory at Penn State on Sunday in its Big Ten opener.

The Buckeyes return to conference play Saturday, hosting No. 22 Wisconsin, before going outside the league again for a matchup against No. 10 Kentucky in Las Vegas on Dec. 18.

Towson ends its three-game trip at Coppin State on Saturday.

--Field Level Media