Penn State 64, Ohio State 83: Boxed Out

Penn State men’s basketball (13-9, 3-8 Big Ten) was throttled by Ohio State 13-8 (5-5 Big Ten) 83-64 in a must-win game at Rec Hall Thursday evening. This year’s “Return to Rec” event was spoiled by subpar free-throw shooting and poor rebounding, delivering a near-fatal blow to a Nittany Lions season that at one point seemed so promising.

While the Nittany Lions were the first team to score, the Buckeyes were in control for much of the early first period. Penn State missed its first three three-point tries before D’Marco Dunn finally found the net from deep, but Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton answered with a triple of his own just 14 seconds later.

This quickly became a theme as the Buckeyes…