In order to hang around with Ohio State on Sunday, Purdue Fort Wayne needed to connect from beyond the arc. In the Mastodons' upset of Indiana last year, they hit 17-of-30 3-pointers.
For a while, they kept it close, earning second-chance opportunities and hitting triples. Purdue Fort Wayne hit 6-of-16 first-half 3-point attempts against Ohio State and held a 20-18 rebounding edge in the opening half, which included seven offensive rebounds. But once the Buckeyes got into an offensive rhythm to begin the second half, they began to pull away.
Andre Wesson hit a pair of free throws just a little over a minute into the second half to give Ohio State a seven-point lead, and C.