Comeback at Ohio State Falls Short for Rutgers Men’s Hoops
Trailing Ohio State by as many as 17 points, Rutgers tried to put together an incredible comeback but fell short 76-72 when the final buzzer sounded.
“I’m proud of our effort but it wasn’t enough,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in his postgame comments as Rutgers dropped to 8-5 on the season and 0-2 in Big Ten play.
Sophomore Derek Simpson led the way with 23 points for RU. His three-pointer with 15.4 seconds to go brought the Scarlet Knights to within two points before Ohio State iced the game at the free-throw line.
Rutgers trailed Ohio State by 13 points at the break and slowly started to mount its comeback in the second half. The turning point came when Aundre Hyatt hit a three-pointer with 10:19 to go that cut the Buckeyes lead down to seven.
Minutes later Simpson took over nailing a pair of jumpers and a free throw, while Mowat Mag hit a jumper with 3:20 to go that widdled the Ohio State lead down to a single point, 67-66.
However, Evan Mahaffey nailed a jumper of his own, and Roddy Gayle Jr. hit a three-pointer that pushed the Buckeye lead back out to six points, 72-66.
Rutgers had its chances down the stretch, but a pair of missed three’s by Mag, Simpson and Noah Fernandes sunk Rutgers chances of pulling off the upset.
Rutgers’ mid-west road trip continues on Saturday afternoon when they pay a visit to Iowa at 12 noon. We will have coverage here on Fox Sports New Jersey 93.5 FM 1450 AM.
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