MIAMI – Ohio State took it to overtime, but Memphis used its advantage in the paint – and free-throw line – to hold off the Buckeyes, 81-76, at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Tigers (3-2) scored on the third possession of overtime and limited the Buckeyes (2-3) to only a Keita Bates-Diop free throw to pull away.
Trailing 75-70 with 2:25 remaining, Jae’Sean Tate scored in the paint to pull the Buckeyes within three with 2:04 left. Memphis’ Dedric Lawson was whistled for traveling, negating a made basket that would have pushed it back to a double-possession deficit for the Buckeyes and setting up Bates-Diop for a tying three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining.