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Ohio State Cruises to 79-59 Win over Minnesota in Big Ten Opener

Ohio State Cruises to 79-59 Win over Minnesota in Big Ten Opener

12/2/2018 10:22:58 PM | Men's Basketball

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 16 Ohio State men’s basketball team cruised to a 79-59 win over Minnesota in its Big Ten opener Sunday night at Value City Arena. With the win, Ohio State improves to 7-1 on the year while the Golden Gophers fall to 6-2.

Andre Wesson led six Buckeyes in double figures with a career-best 16 while Kaleb Wesson added 15. C.J. Jackson and Musa Jallow each tacked on 11 while Kyle Young and Duane Washington Jr. scored 10 apiece. Amir Coffey led Minnesota with 19 points while Dupree McBrayer added 13.

After the game was knotted at 5-5 with 15:31 left in the first half, Ohio State scored the next eight points, including six from Andre Wesson, over the next 2:28 to take a 13-5 advantage and then extended the run to 21-2 after a Andre Wesson jumper with 9:11 left to play for a 26-7 lead. However, a 9-0 spurt by the Golden Gophers late in the first half cut the Buckeye lead down to eight before Ohio State took a 39-28 advantage into the half.

Andre Wesson and Jallow paced the Buckeyes with 11 points in the first 20 minutes, while Amir Coffey led Minnesota with 12.

The Buckeyes pushed their lead up to as many as 23 at 65-42 after an Andre Wesson dunk with 8:23 left to play and would not get closer than 17 the rest of the way as Ohio State outscored the Golden Gophers 40-31 in the second half on the way to opening Big Ten play with the win.

For the game, Ohio State limited Minnesota to 39.2 percent (20-for-51) from the field and 0-for-13 from 3-point range. The last time the Buckeyes held an opponent to zero 3-pointers was when Lamar went 0-for-12 Dec. 20, 2011, and the last time Ohio State held a Big Ten opponent to zero 3-pointers was when Michigan went 0-for-10 March 3, 1992.

Ohio State takes on Illinois at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday at United Center in Chicago.