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Thomas helps Ohio State knock off Purdue

Jan 9, 2013 - 6:52 AM West Lafayette, IN (Sports Network) - Deshaun Thomas made four 3-pointers en route to 22 points, as the 15th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes bounced back with a 74-64 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers.

Aaron Craft and Evan Ravenel added 15 and 11 points, respectively, for the Buckeyes (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten), who suffered their worst loss of the season at Illinois on Saturday.

"We came out with toughness and our offensive execution was going well," Thomas remarked. "We knew we needed to do that after the Illinois game and that's what we did."

Terone Johnson ended with 18 points for the Boilermakers (7-8, 1-2), who have lost two straight. A.J. Hammons and Ronnie Johnson donated 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Trailing by two, 9-7, with 15:36 left in the first half, Ohio State went on a 13-2 run to take the lead. Shannon Scott's free throw made it 20-11 with 12:10 to go.

The Buckeyes went on a 9-0 spurt moments later to increase their margin. Thomas scored the first five points of the flurry that Ravenel capped with a layup to make it 31-17 with 8:17 left.

Ohio State took a 39-29 margin into the break.

Purdue stayed within striking distance and made a late push late in the second half. Trailing by 12, 66-54, with 6:09 to play, the Boilermakers put together a 6-0 spurt. Johnson made back-to-back layups to cut the gap to 66-60.

Johnson added two free throws with 2:55 remaining to get Purdue within four, 68-64. However, Sam Thompson responded with a jumper.

The Boilermakers failed to score the rest of the way.

"We just didn't put the ball in the basket," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "But we had the ball where we wanted it to be. In my opinion, we're getting the shot we want, we're just not converting it. We've got to do a better job converting it."

Game Notes

Ohio State leads the all-time series with Purdue, 85-83, and has won four of the last five meetings ... The Buckeyes shot 55.6 percent from the floor, while Purdue made just 38.8 percent of its shots ... Tuesday's win was the 100th Big Ten regular-season victory for Buckeyes coach Thad Matta.