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Tri-State Morning Tip-Off
A quick and easy daily recap of the night in area CBB and a look ahead to tonight's action.
Yesterday
Robert Morris 97 NKU 93 (3 OT)
A triple overtime road gut punch snapped a five game winning streak. LJ Wells led the Norse with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Sam Vinson played a team-high 50 minutes and finished with a near triple-double, posting 12 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, and seven assists. NKU outrebounded RMU 65-52, grabbing 24 offensive rebounds in the loss. The Norse (7-7/2-1) hosts Purdue Fort Wayne on January 1 at 12:00 PM.
Cleveland State 78 Wright State 64
Down by 12 points at the break and 13 with seven minutes to play, the Raiders (7-8, 1-3) reeled off a 10-2 run to cut the margin to five at 64-59. But the host Vikings answered with the next 14 points to close out the afternoon. Brandon Noel produced a game-high 20 points, adding six rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist in 35 minutes of action, while Jack Doumbia tallied 19 points and filled his stat line with three rebounds, three blocks, a pair of assists and a steal.
Purdue 83 Toledo 64
The big three of Trey Kaufman-Renn (23), Fletcher Loyer (17) and Braden Smith (34) combined for 74 of Purdue's 83 points. Smith scored a career-high 34 points to go along with 12 assists, four rebounds and three steals. He’s the first player in school history to have at least 30 points and 10 assists in the same game. Purdue (9-4) committed just eight turnovers in the victory. The Boilermakers were 10-of-28 from 3-point range and have now won 11 straight games when making double-digit 3-pointers. Purdue is 99-3 since the start of the 2017-18 season when scoring 80 points in a game. It was the 80th straight sellout crowd at Mackey Arena.
Ohio State 103 Indiana State 88
Up just five at the break, the Buckeyes shot 60 percent in the second half to pull away from Indiana State and cruise to a 103-83 victory at Value City Arena. Bruce Thornton led the way with a career-high 33 points, hitting the 30-point mark in back-to-back games. He’s the first Buckeye with back-to-back 30-point games since Evan Turner in 2010. OSU had a season-high 11 steals and turned 19 ISU turnovers into 19 points.The Buckeyes have finished non-conference action and are 9-4 overall.
Indiana 77 Winthrop 68
With Oumar Ballo not available and Malik Reneau battling foul trouble, Langdon Hatton stepped up and produced seven points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, a steal and an assist over 25 minutes of action. Before Sunday, Hatton hadn't played more than eight minutes, hadn't played at all in three games, and totaled 18 points and six rebounds. IU shot 1-for-20 beyond the arc. The IU (10-3) defense limited Winthrop to just 37.5% shooting from the floor.
Tonight
UC at Kansas State to open Big 12 play
Ohio hosting Muskingum
Miami home to Defiance