Jamison Battle scored all of his 23 points in the second half when surging No. 10 seed Ohio State defeated seven-seed Iowa 90-78 in a second-round game of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday in Minneapolis, Minn.
Battle, who transferred from his home state Minnesota Golden Gophers after last season, attempted one shot in the first half. He finished 6-for-13 from the floor, including 9-for-9 from the free-throw line, and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Bruce Thornton scored 14 points in the game and Scotty Middleton added 11 first-half points for the Buckeyes (20-12).
The Buckeyes play No. 2 seed Illinois (23-8) in the quarterfinals on Friday. Ohio State lost 87-75 at home to the 13th-ranked Illini on Jan. 30.
Ohio State has won five straight and is 6-1 for interim head coach Jake Diebler since Chris Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14 after losing nine of 11. Holtmann was named the DePaul coach on Thursday.
Payton Sandfort had 19 points and Ben Krikke and Tony Perkins each scored 13 for the Hawkeyes (18-14).
Ohio State extended a five-point halftime lead to 67-56 with 11 minutes left in the game when Middleton made a steal that led to a layup by Zed Key. The Buckeyes gained their biggest lead to that point, 77-65, with six minutes to play when Thornton drove the lane for a bucket and the Hawkeyes never got no closer than eight points.
Iowa defeated the Buckeyes 79-77 at home on Feb. 2 in the lone meeting in the regular season.
The teams showed no postseason jitters based on their shooting as the Buckeyes took a 43-38 halftime lead. They made 60.7 percent of their field goals, including a blistering 72.7 percent of 3-pointers, going 8 of 11, including making their first five attempts.
Middleton led the way with 11 points by the break — two shy of his career best — by draining all four shots, with three coming from beyond the arc.
Iowa made 53.8 percent from the floor in the first half. The Hawkeyes hit 55.6 percent (5 of 9) of their 3-point attempts with Sandfort going 2-for-2 as part of his nine points.
Ohio State raced to a 10-2 lead before the Hawkeyes tied it at 15. The Buckeyes then three times increased the margin to seven points.
–Field Level Media