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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Ohio St. 88, Purdue 71
When: 8:55 PM ET, Friday, March 9, 2012
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials: # Bill Ek, # Gene Steratore, # Terry Wymer
Attendance: N/A

Ohio State 88, Purdue 71: Jared Sullinger had a season-high 30 points and 12 rebounds as the No. 7 Buckeyes used a late-second half run to cruise in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

Deshaun Thomas added 14 of his 22 points in the first half to complement Sullinger’s 14th double-double of the season as Ohio State (26-6) won its seventh straight conference tournament game since losing to Purdue (21-12) in the 2009 final.

The third-seeded Buckeyes will meet second-seeded Michigan in Saturday's semifinals, hoping to avenge a Feb. 18 regular season loss to the Wolverines.

The sixth-seeded Boilermakers closed to within 65-61 with 6:46 remaining on a jumper from D.J. Byrd but missed their next five shots, allowing Ohio State to convert three straight layups and put the game away with a 14-0 run.

By the time Byrd ended the Boilermakers’ field goal drought more than four minutes later, the Buckeyes held a commanding 81-66 lead.

Byrd, who scored a career-high 24 points in his team’s earlier loss to Ohio State on Feb. 7, finished with 20 points for Purdue, which allowed the Buckeyes to shoot 60.7 percent – a season high against the Boilermakers.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sullinger and Thomas combined to score 29 of Ohio State’s 40 first-half points. … Purdue shot 11 of 25 from the 3-point line, the tenth time this season it has managed to hit at least 10 in a game. … Ohio State improved to 18-8 in the Big Ten tournament.
Top Game Performances
 
Purdue   Ohio St.
D.J. Byrd 20 Scoring Jared Sullinger 30
Lewis Jackson 10 Assists Aaron Craft 7
Robbie Hummel 10 Rebounds Jared Sullinger 12
D.J. Byrd 2 Free Throws Made Jared Sullinger 5
Lewis Jackson 2 Steals Aaron Craft 1
Robbie Hummel 1 Blocks Jared Sullinger 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Purdue 71 39.7 12-26 9-15 14 23 1 4 5
Ohio St. 88 60.7 4-16 10-14 16 35 6 1 7