A year ago to the day the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes met in Columbus with the Big Ten regular season title hanging in the balance. OSU triumphed 49-48 when Ron Lewis blocked Kammron Taylor's shot from the elbow as time expired.
This year, the lone matchup between the Badgers and Buckeyes was once again decided in the final minutes. This time it was Wisconsin who would make defensive stop to secure a 58-53 victory Sunday at Value City Arena.
With the Badgers ahead 56-53, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta called not one but two timeouts to draw up the game-tying shot. Yet, the Badgers' stifling defense forced OSU senior point guard Jamar Butler to heave a long 3-pointer, which failed to graze the iron and bounced harmlessly out of bounds.
On the ensuing UW possession, the Badgers broke the Buckeyes' full-court press, and junior forward Marcus Landry put an exclamation mark on the win with a two-handed dunk.
The win temporarily put Wisconsin (13-2 Big Ten, 23-4 overall) in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten - both Purdue and Indiana are 12-2 - while dropping Ohio State (8-6, 17-10) onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.
A 9-0 second-half run proved critical for the Badgers, who have won five consecutive conference road games since falling at Purdue Jan. 26.
After senior forward Brian Butch missed the rim on a turnaround shot in the lane, Butler led Ohio State up the court on a secondary fastbreak with a 49-47 lead. But when Butler tried to advance the ball at midcourt, UW senior guard Michael Flowers leaped and plucked the pass out of the air with both hands. He then dribbled in for a layup that hung on the rim for several seconds before falling through the net.
The play seemed to energize the Badgers. On their next possession, Flowers cut through the paint and found sophomore guard Jason Bohannon, who swished a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Wisconsin stopped the Buckeyes on defense, and Butch made a jump shot in the lane to improve UW's lead to 54-49.
Landry added a pair of free throws at the five-minute mark. During the run, Ohio State went more than four and a half minutes without a field goal.
Bohannon came off the bench to lead Wisconsin with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Flowers played arguably his finest game of the season by scoring 14 points and dishing out six assists in 35 minutes.
Landry added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Butler led Ohio State with 14 points.
The Badgers committed 12 first-half turnovers and fell behind 19-12 with 7:27 remaining in the half. But Wisconsin slowly cut into the Buckeye lead, and back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guard Michael Flowers and another three by sophomore Jason Bohannon gave UW a 32-30 advantage with less than a minute in the half.
Wisconsin only committed two second-half turnovers.
