Penn State men’s basketball (5-5, 1-1 Big Ten) defeated Ohio State (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) 83-80, winning its first Big Ten game of the year and snapping a five-game losing streak. After going down as much as 18 points in the game, a huge second-half comeback helped the Nittany Lions win their biggest game of the season up to this point.

Kanye Clary led the way with 19 points, however, the star shooting from D’Marco Dunn and Leo O’Boyle, who dropped 16 and 15 points respectively, charged the comeback for the Nittany Lions in the second half. Ace Baldwin Jr. came up big as well hitting the game-winning three late in the game, after not scoring in the first half.

How It Happened

After winning the tip, Ohio State started the game hot, with Bruce Thornton drilling a corner three for the first bucket of the game. Felix Okpara added a layup to go up 5-0 before Qudas Wahab opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions with a mid-range jumper.

Jamison Battle drilled another three for the Buckeyes but Clary followed that up with a turnaround jumper for his first shot of the night. However, Ohio State couldn’t miss as Battle drilled another three-pointer on the next possession and made four consecutive shots to start the game.

Clary’s hot start continued draining another shot and picking up the and-one free throw to go along with it. On the Buckeye’s next offensive possession, former Nittany Lion Evan Mahaffey scored his first bucket backed by a loud set of boos from the Nittany Lion faithful. Wahab answered with a bucket of his own as the teams went into the first media timeout.

Out of the break, the Nittany Lions went on a run to take the lead. Zach Hicks made a tough jumper to start the run and O’Boyle continued it drilling a long three to tie the game at 14. A Zed Key layup gave the Buckeyes the lead back, however, O’Boyle was fouled on a three and made all three shots, which gave the Nittany Lions their first lead of the game.

Ohio State didn’t take long to go back ahead after a dunk from Key and a three-pointer from Scotty Middleton put them back up four. O’Boyle hot hand wasn’t out yet, as the forward drilled another three.

They’re calling this the Leo O’Boyle game pic.twitter.com/XJ9XrdPl8q

— Onward State (@OnwardState) December 9, 2023

The Buckeyes then went on a big run of their own. Middleton drilled a pullup jumper and Okpara slammed an alley-oop. Wahab made a hook shot to cut the deficit back down to four but was answered quickly by a Battle jumper. Thorton would take things from bad to worse after getting an and-one layup and free throw.

Fresh into the game was Dunn, who got a huge steal and layup. Dunn made another layup after a steal from Nick Kern Jr.

With under five minutes to go in the first half, Dale Bonner and Kern traded layups. Roddy Gayle Jr. grew the lead for the Buckeyes with another three-pointer. They would then get a single free throw out of Mahaffey, and shut down the Nittany Lions offense, not allowing them to score for the final four-and-a-half minutes of the half, to go up 41-29 heading into halftime.

Ohio State began the second half similar to the first, with a Thornton three-pointer, however, Clary answered Thronton with a three of his own. Battle drilled his first shot of the second half to put the Buckeyes up 15 just minutes into the start of the final 20 minutes.

Baldwin finally joined in on the scoring, drilling a layup for his first points of the game. Another alley-oop to Okpara and another three by Gayle was too much for head coach Mike Rhoades, who was forced to call an early timeout.

Out of the timeout, Wahab made a second chance layup after a Clary miss. Battle went down the floor and drilled another three-pointer, however, the Nittany Lions went on the big run they needed.

Dunn and Clary’s back-to-back makes started the rally and another Dunn shot, this time a long three-pointer, put the Nittany Lions back down 11. Another Key dunk stopped the 7-0 run but the Nittany Lions kept getting big shots.

Clary made another huge layup and after a pair of Key free throws, O’Boyle drilled another long three-pointer to make it a 10-point game. Mahaffey traveled on the ensuing possession and Baldwin followed it up jumper to make a single-digit game.

Ohio State got five straight points after a Thornton three and another Key dunk. However, the Nittany Lions didn’t let that stop them from keeping their comeback going. Hicks would drill his first three of the game and Dunn continued the run with a second chance layup.

The run didn’t end there, as Hicks drilled another three to make it a five-point game and forced Ohio State to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Dunn continued his hot second half with another three-pointer to make it a one-score game.

Middleton would go 1-for-2 from the line to get it back to a three-pointer lead for Ohio State, however, Hicks’s hot hand continued with another make, this time a mid-range jumper, to make it a one-point game. On the ensuing Ohio State offensive possession, Gayle drilled a three to go back up four points.

Dunn continued his scoring stretch with another layup to get back to a one-score game. After nearly putting Battle in a body bag on a dunk, Dunn missed two free throws that could have tied the game.

pic.twitter.com/NzoEYh3vcx

— Onward State (@OnwardState) December 10, 2023

Ohio State would get four points from a pair of free throws from Thorton and Gayle. Down six, Penn State needed a bucket and got a huge and-one layup and a free throw from Clary to get it back to a three-point game.

Out of a media timeout, Clary made another huge shot to get Penn State within one, however, Mahaffey got a wide-open dunk to go back up three. On the next offensive possession for Penn State, Hicks found who else but O’Boyle for his fourth three of the game, which tied the game at 74.

Tied with under two minutes to play, after three misses by the Nittany Lions, Ohio State got a huge rebound by Okpara who put up a second chance layup for the lead. Baldwin would answer on the next possession with a huge layup to tie the game once again.

With a minute left, Okpara was called for an offensive and gave the Nittany Lions the ball back. the ball was put in Baldwin’s hand and he drilled a long three-pointer to take a 79-76 lead.

ACE IN THE CLUTCH pic.twitter.com/DYEqa5gse2

— Onward State (@OnwardState) December 10, 2023

With less than 30 seconds to play with the BJC rocking, the Buckeyes got fouled and drilled both free throws to make it a one-point game. After going for the steal, Ohio State fouled Hicks and he went 1-for-2. Up two, Ohio State got a great pass to Battle in the corner for three, however, he missed the shot and Wahab grabbed the rebound.

The big man was fouled went to the line and drilled both shots for a four-point lead. With 7.5 seconds remaining, Ohio State got the inbound to Bonner, who made a layup and was fouled in the process. Bonner intentionally missed the free throw, however, Clary grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Clary went to the line and made 1-of-2 free throws to go up 3. On the inbound, Ohio State threw up a prayer three that missed, allowing Penn State to complete the comeback and win 83-80.

Takeaways

• What a comeback. After going down 18 at one point in the game, the Nittany Lions shot the lights out in the second half to come back and win the game. Eight three-pointers were big for Penn State who have struggled late in games in getting shots down.
• D’Marco Dunn, welcome to Penn State. In what was no doubt his best game as a Nittany Lion, Dunn dropped 16 points. The guard kept the Nittany Lions in the game with 12 of those points coming in the second half alone.
• O’Boyle had a night. After struggling to find his shot throughout the first nine games of the season, the forward finally showed the Nittany Lion faithful what he can do. O’Boyle drilled four threes and dropped a season-high 15 points as his big shooting came up huge in the second-half comeback.
• After not scoring in the first half, Baldwin came alive. The guard only scored nine points in the game, but a big three-pointer with less than a minute to go in the game was just what the Nittany Lions needed to seal the victory.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will travel to New York City to play a non-conference game against Georgia Tech at Madison Square Garden. The game is set to tip off at noon on Saturday, December 16, and can be viewed on the Big Ten Network.