SPORTS

Tuesday's college basketball: UM women top Ohio State

Detroit News staff and wires
Purdue center Isaac Haas, right, and Wisconsin forward Ethan Happ go after a loose ball in the first half on Tuesday.

Columbus, Ohio — After Michigan blew a lead in regulation and lost to Ohio State in overtime nine days ago, the Wolverines told coach Kim Barnes Arico they wouldn’t let it happen again.

They delivered on that promise Tuesday night.

Hallie Thome had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 19 Michigan rallied to beat No. 8 Ohio State, 84-75, on Tuesday night, handing the Buckeyes their first Big Ten loss.

“We were all in a group chat after (the Jan. 7 game), and I was texting every half hour saying ‘Did that really happen?’” Thome said. “So I think we all took it to heart and knew when we stepped on this court we had a great opportunity to come back and show them who Michigan is.”

Katelynn Flaherty had 21 points for Michigan (16-4, 5-2), which trailed by five at halftime. Nicole Munger added a career-high 20, helping the Wolverines to their third straight win.

Ohio State (16-3, 5-1) shot 36.1 percent (26 for 72) from the field in its first loss since Nov. 30. Stephanie Mavunga paced the Buckeyes with 21 points.

“To be honest, we were real lackadaisical, especially to start the third quarter, so that’s on us,” Mavunga said. “We shot 36 percent as they shot 53 percent. It’s really difficult to beat a team when you’re shooting such a low percentage. That has to do with shot selection, that has to do with forcing up shots that maybe aren’t the best ones.”

The Buckeyes went 3 for 17 from the field in the third quarter. The Wolverines went ahead to stay on Flaherty’s 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the period.

“I just think the ball fell our way,” Flaherty said.

Kelsey Mitchell made two foul shots with 9:21 left to get Ohio State within two, but Michigan held on.

Mitchell scored 20 points for the Buckeyes, and Linnae Harper had 15 points and nine rebounds.

More state women

Michigan State 67, (at) Illinois 55: Branndais Agee had 18 points, Sidney Cooks scored 15 and Taya Reimer added 12 for Michigan State (14-5, 4-2 Big Ten). Brandi Beasley scored 19 for Illinois (9-11, 0-6).

State men

(At) Ball State 82, Central Michigan 72: Jeremie Tyler drilled five from distance to total 21 points as Ball State finished strong to hold off Eastern Michigan.

Trey Moses had his fifth double-double in the last eight games with 13 points and 11 rebounds, Tayler Persons added 12 points with eight rebounds and Sean Sellers chipped in 11 points for Ball State (12-6, 3-2 MAC).

The Cardinals shot 50 percent (29-58) from the field, making 10 of 27 from distance, while holding Central Michigan to 26-of-72 shooting.

Ball State, which led 37-31 at the break, never trailed in the second half, but the Chippewas stayed within striking distance. They closed to 65-61 with 5:34 left. Moses responded with a layup, Tyler nailed a trey and followed with a dunk to go up 72-61.

Luke Meyer had a career night for Central Michigan (12-6, 1-4), scoring 26 points with 14 rebounds.

(At) Eastern Michigan 63, Akron 49: Elijah Minnie had 22 points, Paul Jackson added 20 and Eastern Michigan finished strong to roll over Akron for its second MAC win.

Minnie was 8 of 15 from the floor, and Jackson made 6 of 12 field-goal attempts with eight rebounds and four assists for Eastern Michigan (11-7, 2-3). John Thompson IV added eight points with eight rebounds and four blocks.

The Eagles led 34-27 at the break and pushed that to 45-35 before Akron charged back. Malcolm Duvivier nailed a 3, Mark Kostelac followed with a layup and Duvivier added two free throws as the Zips pulled to 53-47 with 5:02 remaining.

Eastern Michigan closed on a 10-2 run in the final 4:35 to thwart Akron’s rally.

Eric Parrish had 18 points and Duvivier added 12 for Akron (8-9, 1-4) which has lost four of its last five games.

(At) IUPUI 81, Detroit Mercy 66: Aaron Brennan scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half and IUPUI jumped out early to beat Detroit Mercy for its third straight win.

IUPUI (7-11, 4-3 Horizon) closed on a 19-4 run — making four straight 3-pointers, two from Brennan — for a 45-26 halftime lead. A 16-0 run pulled Detroit Mercy to 67-62 with 4:22 to play, but the Titans didn’t get closer. Jermaine Jackson Jr. made three 3s and scored 13 of his 22 points during the stretch.

Brennan added seven rebounds and a team-high four assists, and has scored in double-digits in the last five games. Ron Patterson added 14 points for IUPUI. D.J. McCall had 13 points and T.J. Henderson 11.

Jackson was 7-of-12 shooting for Detroit Mercy (6-14, 2-5). Kameron Chatman and Josh McFolley chipped in 10 points apiece.

(At) Kent State 73, Western Michigan 71: Kevin Zabo tossed in 23 points, Mitch Peterson made a putback just before the buzzer for Kent State.

On Kent State’s final possession, Zabo drove the middle of the lane but had his shot blocked. It fell to Danny Pippen, who came up short on a hook and it was knocked out to Peterson for the game-winner.

Adonis De La Rosa had 11 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season for the Golden Flashes (9-9, 3-2 MAC). Pippen scored 16 points, all in the first half, on 6-of-6 shooting with four 3-pointers. Jaylin Walker scored 10 and Jalen Avery handed out nine assists.

Kent State knocked down its first eight 3-pointers in the first half and built a 42-24 lead. The Golden Flashes led 63-49 on Peterson’s 3-pointer at the midway point of the second half.

Avery’s 3-pointer and a De La Rosa dunk ended Kent State’s scoring drought, but Western Michigan used another 9-0 run capped by two Josh Davis layups to pull within 68-67. Zabo hit a 3 to put Kent State up 71-67, but Reggie Jones answered with two buckets to knot the score at 71 with seven seconds left.

Davis topped the Broncos (11-7, 3-2) with 16 points.

Top 25 men

(At) No. 3 Purdue 78, Wisconsin 50: Vincent Edwards scored 21 points and Carsen Edwards added 20 to lead Purdue to a blowout over Wisconsin.

The Boilermakers (18-2, 7-0 Big Ten) have won 14 straight overall, 19 in a row at home and have matched the best 20-game record in school history. The only other time Purdue did that was 1987-88 when it also won its first seven conference games.

Ethan Happ had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds to lead the Badgers (9-10, 2-4). Wisconsin has lost three straight — all on the road.

(At) Kansas State 87, No. 4 Oklahoma 69: Barry Brown scored 24 points, Dean Wade added 21 and Kansas State frustrated Oklahoma star Trae Young all game.

Cartier Diarra added 16 points and Xavier Sneed had 13 for the defensive-minded Wildcats (13-5, 3-3 Big 12), who earned their sixth consecutive win over the Sooners at Bramlage Coliseum.

Young was held to 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting, his fewest since scoring 15 in his college debut. He also was 2 of 10 from the 3-point line and committed 12 turnovers against six assists.

Rashard Odomes had 16 points and Brady Manek had 12 for the Sooners (14-3, 4-2).

No. 12 Cincinnati 49, Central Florida 38: Gary Clark scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Jacob Evans added 10 points for Cincinnati (16-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference), which won its ninth straight game.

UCF (12-6, 3-3) got seven points apiece from Tacko Fall, Terrell Allen and Dayon Griffin, but struggled the entire game to get inside the Bearcats defense. UCF shot just 30 percent for the game and committed 14 turnovers.

(At) No. 15 North Carolina 87, No. 20 Clemson 79: Graduate transfer Cameron Johnson scored a season-high 21 points to help North Carolina preserve its perfect all-time home record against Clemson.

Joel Berry II scored 14 of his 17 after halftime for the Tar Heels (15-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who hung on despite seeing most of an 18-point lead erased by Clemson’s torrid second-half shooting.

Luke Maye added 11 points while playing with a stitched-up cut on his nose suffered shortly before halftime.

The win improved the Tar Heels to 59-0 all-time at home against Clemson, including 28-0 in the Smith Center. It’s the longest home winning streak against a single opponent in NCAA history.

Marcquise Reed scored 21 points for the Tigers (15-3, 4-2).

(At) South Carolina 76, No. 18 Kentucky 68: Chris Silva tied his career high with 27 points and South Carolina rallied from 14 points down in the second half.

The Gamecocks (12-6, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) seemed done after Kevin Knox’s short jumper with 12:28 to go put the Wildcats ahead 54-40. But that’s when South Carolina, fueled by the 6-foot-9 Silva, got going and outscored Kentucky (14-4, 4-2) 36-14 the rest of the way to pull off the upset.

Silva had 12 points in that stretch to lift the Gamecocks.

Knox led Kentucky with 21 points.