Wednesday's college basketball: No. 12 Ohio State holds off Penn State 83-79

Columbus, Ohio — E.J. Liddell scored 22 points, including the tiebreaking free throws with 59.7 seconds left, and No. 13 Ohio State held off Penn State 83-79 on Wednesday night.

The Buckeyes (13-4, 7-4 Big Ten) squandered a 12-point first-half lead but rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second for their second consecutive victory and fourth in five games.

Liddell hit four clutch free throws in the final minute, sealing it with two from the line with a second to play. Zed Key went 5 for 5 from the field and converted his only free throw to finish with 11 points for Ohio State.

Kyle Young also had a perfect shooting night for the Buckeyes, scoring 10 points on 3 for 3 from the field and the free throw line before fouling out with 5:01 left.

Seth Lundy paced Penn State (5-7, 2-6) with 26 points.

►No. 2 Baylor 107, Kansas State 59: Davion Mitchell made seven 3-pointers while scoring a career-high 31 points, MaCio Teague added 18 points and Baylor got another lopsided victory over Kansas State.

After last month becoming the first opponent since 1992 to score 100 points at Kansas State in a 31-point victory, the Bears (15-0, 8-0 Big 12) jumped out to a 31-point lead in the first 111/2 minutes in the rematch. Teague already had 11 points with three 3-pointers, and Wildcats coach Bruce Weber had already used two of his timeouts by then.

Jared Butler added 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Mayer had 10 points for Baylor, which hadn’t scored 100 points twice against an opponent in the same season since 1978-79 against TCU. It was the Bears’ second-largest margin of victory ever in a Big 12 game.

Nijel Pack had 11 points to lead Kansas State (5-12, 1-8), which has lost its last eight games.

►No. 14 Wisconsin 61, (at) Maryland 55: Micah Potter had 23 points and 12 rebounds and No. 14 Wisconsin slipped past Maryland after blowing most of an 18-point halftime lead.

D’Mitrik Trice added 13 to help the Badgers (13-4, 7-3 Big Ten) avenge a surprise loss to the Terrapins (9-8, 3-7) last month and bounce back from a home defeat to Ohio State over the weekend.

But it sure wasn’t easy. After limiting Maryland to 25% shooting in taking a 38-20 lead at the break, Wisconsin let the margin dwindle to three points with 11:45 remaining.

The Terrapins opened the second half with an 8-0 run, then rattled off nine straight points to make it 43-40. Minutes later, however, Potter converted his third three-point play of the game and added a 3-pointer for a 52-42 advantage.

►No. 16 Florida State 81, Miami 59: Malik Osborne had 11 points and 10 rebounds, RaiQuan Gray added 10 points and 11 rebounds and Florida State routed short-handed Miami for its fifth straight victory.

M.J. Walker and Sardaar Calhoun also had 11 points apiece for the Seminoles (10-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Florida State trails only Virginia (7-0) in the ACC standings.

Osborne has been a reserve in all of Florida State’s games and has now scored in double figures in three of his last four games.

Isaiah Wong scored 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting for Miami (6-9, 2-8). Anthony Walker and Kameron McGusty each had 13 points.

►No. 17 Creighton 85, (at) Seton Hall 81: Mitch Ballock hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 41 seconds to play to cap a season-high 29-point performance and Creighton overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Seton Hall.

Marcus Zegarowski added 18 points, and the Bluejays (12-4, 8-3) used a 14-2 run over the final 2:57 to steal one from Seton Hall (9-7, 6-4).

Graduate transfer Bryce Aiken scored a season-high 21 points and Myles Cale had 18 of his 20 in the first half to lead Seton Hall.

For most of the night it appeared the Pirates would avenge a 36-point loss this month to Creighton, but the Bluejays switched to a zone in the second half and it turned the game.

►No. 20 Virginia Tech 62, (at) Notre Dame 51: Nahiem Alleyne led four Virginia Tech players in double figures with 15 points and the Hokies rebounded from their previous road loss to control cold-shooting Notre Dame.

Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts had 14 points each and reserve Hunter Cattoor scored 13 for coach Mike Young’s Hokies (12-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who were coming off a 78-60 loss last Saturday at Syracuse.

Prentiss Hubb scored 22 points to lead the Fighting Irish (5-9, 2-6), who saw their two-game winning streak end. The guard scored just five points after intermission as the Irish, who shot 32% in the first half, finished at 36% for the game.

►Clemson 54, No. 25 Louisville 50: Aamir Simms had 16 points, Al-Amir Dawes added 15 and Clemson turned up the defense to beat Louisville and break a three-game losing streak.

It was a much needed lift for the Tigers (10-4, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who were ranked as high as No. 12 this season until dropping their past three by an average of 24 points

The prospects of ending it against the Cardinals (10-4, 5-3) and their dynamic scorer Carlik Jones seemed slim, too, with Louisville averaging better than 70 points.

State women

►Eastern Michigan 69, Ohio 66: EMU won its fourth of the last five Wednesday, beating the Bobcats at the Convocation Center.

Sophomore Ce'Nara Skanes led the Eagles (9-6, 6-4 MAC) with 22 points and 16 rebounds for her ninth double-double on the season. CeCe Hooks and Erica Johnson combined for 42 points on 17-of-47 shooting for Ohio (8-5, 6-4) .

►Central Michigan 83, Toledo 74: Molly Davis led Central Michigan with 27 points, as the Chippewas shot a season-high 63% from the floor on Wednesday to earn a road win at Savage Arena in Toledo.

It was the second straight win for CMU (95-73) while Toledo (8-6, 4-6) missed its last seven shots from 3-point range, unable to keep pace.

►Bowling Green 77, Western Michigan 53: Elissa Brett was one of four Bowling Green players to score double figures as the MAC-leading Falcons (12-3, 8-2) routed Western Michigan (2-9, 1-8) at home. 

The Falcons pulled away in the fourth quarter after a slow offensive start. The Broncos hung around, cutting their deficit twice to six points in the fourth quarter, before 3-point shooting sealed the win.