Ohio State vs. Indiana: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

Indiana seized control of its 69-66 victory over Ohio State in the first half, extended the lead to double digits in the second half and then hung on for dear life in the last two minutes.

The Hoosiers led for the entire game outside of the first couple of minutes, but the Buckeyes pulled to within one point in the last 30 seconds. However, critical free-throw shooting from Indiana and a missed free throw from Ohio State down the stretch paved the way to an important Big Ten win for Tom Crean's squad.

James Blackmon Jr. led the way for the Hoosiers with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Troy Williams added a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Shannon Scott led the Buckeyes in the scoring department with 16 points, and D'Angelo Russell added 13 points and eight rebounds, although he only shot 3-of-15 from the field.

The Buckeyes established some early momentum on the road when Indiana was sloppy with the ball, as Bob Baptist of The Columbus Dispatch noted. Ohio State also took the initial lead behind a new wrinkle in its offensive attack, via Mike Young of Eleven Warriors: 

That early momentum for the Buckeyes quickly faded, though, when Indiana started to pound the ball down low. Baptist pointed out that the Buckeyes had bigger problems than just Indiana as the Hooisers started to come back:

With the Buckeyes in foul trouble, Indiana seized the lead against the Ohio State bench, as Chris Lauderback of Eleven Warriors noted:

Ohio State was in foul trouble, but Indiana's first-half lead was more about the way the Hoosiers were playing than anything else, as play-by-play announcer Scott Agness pointed out:

Indiana's lead was the least of Ohio State's concerns late in the first half when starting forward Marc Loving went down with what looked like a serious injury. Tony Gerdeman of The-Ozone.net described the proceedings:

Fortunately, Loving actually limped back onto the floor for the final seconds of the first half, as the Buckeyes and Hoosiers basically traded free throws until intermission. Indiana led 32-26 at halftime, while the two teams combined for 23 free throws in the first 20 minutes.

If there was any doubt that the Hoosiers and their crowd were going to come out of the locker room with energy, Troy Williams answered it with a vicious dunk. Brent Yarina of Big Ten Network had the highlight, while Rob Kunz of SportsChannel Ohio was certainly impressed:

Indiana's energy probably came as no surprise to Ohio State guard Shannon Scott if his comments were to be believed, via Tim Shoemaker of Eleven Warriors: "They're a great team, I think they're really underrated. They have a lot of great shooters on the court. I think the big thing with them is their freshmen don't play like freshmen. They're really in control and know how to play the game."

The Buckeyes responded to the nine-point deficit by taking center Amir Williams out and going small. Lauderback noted that Jae'Sean Tate was trying to make the most of the opportunity in the middle of the second half:

Ohio State hung around for the middle portion of the second half, but the Hoosiers answered every time it would pull within three points. Emmitt Holt converted a critical and-one to stretch the lead back to five points at the under-eight minute timeout, and the Hoosiers pressure perimeter defense was forcing Ohio State into contested jumpers.

Williams also brought the crowd to its feet with another highlight play, as Indiana on BTN noted:

The biggest problem for Ohio State's comeback efforts was the play of Russell. Russell is the leading scorer on the Buckeyes and is typically their best offensive player, but he was 3-of-14 shooting at the under-four minute timeout when Indiana held a 58-51 lead.

The Student Section had an interesting way of describing the performance: 

Zach Osterman of The Indianapolis Star noted that the Hoosiers were controlling the paint and the game despite some lackluster shooting:

Indiana extended its lead to 10 points with less than four minutes remaining, and Yarina was very complementary of Williams' overall efforts:

The Buckeyes started pressing on defense in the final minutes and cut the lead to 63-60 after forcing a couple of turnovers. Sam Thompson was aggressive on both sides of the floor in the spurt for Ohio State, as Baptist pointed out:

It set the stage for a dramatic finish as the Buckeyes had the ball down three points with 40 seconds remaining. Thompson, who spearheaded the comeback efforts over the course of the last couple of minutes, converted an and-one off an offensive rebound but missed the free throw that would have tied the game.

Michael Citro of Eleven Warriors said what every Ohio State fan was thinking after the Buckeyes finished with 10 missed free throws:

Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell hit four critical free throws in the final seconds, and Russell missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer for the Buckeyes, as Indiana won 69-66. It was a spirited comeback effort from the Buckeyes, but Ferrell had ice water in his veins in the final seconds from the free-throw line.

What’s Next?

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This was already Ohio State's second loss in four tries in Big Ten play, and the presumed top challenger for Wisconsin in the league is reeling a bit. Next up is a home date against archrival Michigan Tuesday in one that feels like an early must-win for the Buckeyes if they want to avoid falling too far down in the Big Ten standings.

As for Indiana, it will try to parlay its impressive win from Saturday into a winning streak when it hosts Penn State Tuesday. The Hoosiers would love to play their way into NCAA tournament discussion, so taking care of business at home is critical.