Ohio State couldn’t quite shake No. 10-seeded Michigan until senior guard Brian Brown drained a short pull-up jumper Friday night for a four-point lead with 38.6 seconds left.
Then the Buckeyes held on for a 75-68 victory and a ticket to a semifinal game Saturday against Illinois in the Big Ten tournament.
“Brian’s basket at the end was obviously critical,” Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien said.
The Buckeyes shot 48 percent from the field and had five players in double figures: Terence Dials (14), Zach Williams (11), Brown (11), Boban Savovic (10) and Brent Darby (10).
“I give a lot of credit to Michigan because of the way [the Wolverines] stayed in there,” O’Brien said. “We were never able to pull away.”
The No. 2-seeded Buckeyes (21-7), regular-season co-champions, came out of the gate with a 15-2 lead, but the Wolverines closed the gap to 42-35 by halftime.
The Wolverines “came out a little over-hyped,” Brown said. “But then they settled down.”
Michigan’s LaVell Blanchard came through with his second straight big scoring night, finishing with 24 points. Blanchard, a mobile 6-foot-7-inch forward, dropped 26 points Thursday on Northwestern. Bernard Robinson and Chris Young each scored 10 points, but Michigan (11-18) shot just 40 percent as a team.
“I thought we played with a great deal of energy and effort,” Michigan coach Tommy Amaker. “We didn’t make plays when we had opportunities down the stretch.”
Michigan mustered a 6-0 run to close to 64-63 with 5:30 left. And the Wolverines had an opportunity to grab the lead on its next possession, but Blanchard’s 7-footer fell short.
A basket by Blanchard brought Michigan to within 70-68 with 1:08 to go. But Brown countered with his huge jumper 28 seconds later.
“I shot the jumper with great confidence,” said Brown, who had hit just 3-of-13 of his previous shots.
The Buckeyes, who beat Michigan for the third time this season, shaved their heads before the game.
“We did it because we wanted to come here as a team and represent Ohio State,” Savovic said.
