Cats,Illini both suffer costly road Big Ten defeats

COLUMBUS—Evan Turner had 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in No. 21 Ohio State’s 76-56 win over Northwestern. Turner also keyed a fast start with five points in a 7-0 run as the Buckeyes (14-5, 4-3 Big Ten) broke out quick and cruised to their third win in a row.As a 6-foot-7 point guard, Turner had the length that enabled the Buckeyes to throw the ball over Northwestern’s trapping 1-3-1 halfcourt zone. As a result, the Buckeyes shot 56 percent from the field in opening up a 40-17 halftime lead that allowed them to breeze to the finish. Dallas Lauderdale had a career-high 14 points for Ohio State, which has won the last 30 times it has hosted the Wildcats, dating to 1977. The Buckeyes were coming off impressive wins over No. 6 Purdue and No. 13 Wisconsin last week.John Shurna had 22 points and Drew Crawford 11 for Northwestern (13-5, 2-4), which played its third straight game against a ranked opponent. The Wildcats beat No. 6 Purdue 72-64 on Saturday, the highest-ranked team they had beaten in 31 years.At one point in the second half, the Wildcats hit 8 of 10 shots from the field but cut only three points off what was a 23-point deficit at the break.The Wildcats hit 9 of 23 3-pointers — they’re in the top 10 in the nation in shots made and attempted behind the arc — but never had an answer inside against the more aggressive Buckeyes.The Buckeyes broke out to a quick lead on a Turner jumper and a 3 sandwiched around Diebler’s fast-break layup.Carmody said the Wildcats had a bad day Monday in practice and that seemed to carry over into the game.While NU had difficulty getting space to shoot at the offensive end, the Buckeyes were at their best. They hit their first seven shots from the field while taking a 17-3 lead. After the Wildcats got as close as 10 points, the Buckeyes ran off 14 of the next 18 to go up 31-11.Ohio State, now 12-0 at home this season, also got three highlight-reel tomahawk dunks from William Buford in the opening half.The Wildcats, who had outrebounded Purdue 42-23, didn’t get a rebound in the opening 9:15. Ohio ended up with a 35-27 upper-hand on the boards.Turner became only the second Ohio State player (joining Jimmy Jackson) to have 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists.

 

 
Evan Turner dispels any injury concerns by fueling the Buckeyes with a near triple-double effort.  (AP)
Evan Turner dispels any injury concerns by fueling the Buckeyes with a near triple-double effort.

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CHAMPAIGN—John Hart had played 33 minutes of basketball for No. 13 Purdue this season before Tuesday night’s game against Illinois. Hart wasn’t even listed in the game’s official score book, costing the Boilermakers a technical foul and two points at the free throw line when he did play. The Illini said they knew nothing about him.Hart more than made up for the technical and introduced himself to Illinois with 14 points, five of them in an early second-half run that gave the Boilermakers a lead they rode to an 84-78 victory.JaJuan Johnson led Purdue with 24 points.The win ended a three-game losing streak for Purdue (15-3, 3-3) and kept the Boilermakers in the thick of a crowded Big Ten, in a fifth-place tie with Ohio State and Minnesota.The loss dropped Illinois (12-7) to 4-2 in the conference and two games behind Big Ten leaders Michigan State.Demetri McCamey led the Illini with a game-high 28 points, including 13 from the free throw line. But he missed six free throws, and the Illini were 17 of 29 (58.6 percent) from the line.After trailing 32-28 at the half, Purdue opened the second half with a 15-4 run.Hart keyed the run, first with a fast break layup that tied the score at 32, then with a 3-pointer that gave the Boilermakers a 35-32 lead.The game started to slip away from the Illini even before halftime, though.Purdue went cold from the field midway through the first half, failing to find the basket from the field for 7:01. But Illinois didn’t do much with the opportunity.The Illini led 16-12 at the start of that stretch, with 10:52 on the clock, and 26-20 when Moore broke the ice at 3:51. In between Robbie Hummel and Johnson kept Purdue going with two free throws each.But Illinois could only blame itself. The Illini were 4 for 12 from the field over those seven minutes, including 0 for 3 from three-point range.Purdue then closed the gap to 28-26 on a jump shot by Hart with 53 seconds left in the half.Only an unusual technical — called when the officials noticed after Hart’s first points that he didn’t appear on the official roster — let Illinois widen its cushion. McCamey hit both free throws for a 30-26 lead and Illinois led 32-28 at the half.Illinois held a slim 23-21 rebounding edge at half time, but had 11 offensive boards — and only four second-chance points to show for them.Weber complained about his team’s missed opportunity.Purdue was effective at the free throw line, hitting 27 for 34 (79.4 percent).for the Boilermakers, after hitting just 10 of the 30 first-half shots, finished 27 for 56 (48.2 percent). They hit 65.4 percent — 17 for 26 — of their second-half shot.Illinois held Purdue’s leading scorer, Hummel, to 11 points, but McCamey said the Illini failed to make the changes it needed to when Painter put Hart in the game.