Ohio State’s NCAA Tournament dreams likely dashed after 77-70 loss to Iowa

Brock Harding scored 15 points that included a clutch 3-pointer to help 15th-seeded Iowa pull away from No. 10 seed Ohio State for a 77-70 victory on Wednesday night in a Big Ten Tournament opener.

The Buckeyes, who had been right on the NCAA Tournament bubble, lost for the fifth time out of their last seven games, with all but one of those being decided by single digits. Mike Decourcy had Ohio State as one of his last four teams in the tournament prior to Wednesday, though that seems likely to change after the Buckeyes failed to advance in the conference tournament.

They had their chances to beat Iowa. After tying it up at 61-all with 7:25 left in the game, Ohio State missed three straight shots and turned the ball over three times before scoring again, trailing 68-61.

A few minutes later, Bruce Thornton converted a three-point play and then added a pullup jumper following a Harding turnover to cut the Ohio State deficit to 72-70 with 45 seconds left. Harding answered with a 3-pointer, Thornton missed a 3 on the other end and Payton Sandfort added two free throws to seal it for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa (17-15) will move on to face seventh-seeded Illinois (20-11) in the second round on Thursday.

Payton Sandfort finished with 17 points for the Hawkeyes, who shot 55% (29-of-53). Josh Dix added 16 points and Pryce Sandfort had 10. Harding shot 5-of-6 from the floor and made three 3-pointers.

Thornton scored 24 points and had nine assists to lead Ohio State (17-15). Devin Royal chipped in with 17 points and Micah Parrish had 16.

There were 13 lead changes and the score was tied 10 times. Iowa shot 10-of-24 from 3-point range while Ohio State was 5-of-22 from distance.

The teams were tied at 37 at the break and then Iowa opened the second half on a 17-9 run for its largest lead at 54-46, with about 14 minutes remaining. The Hawkeyes took the lead for good, 62-61, with 7:11 to play.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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