As Northwestern settled itself behind the arc, the Ohio State men’s basketball team avoided a final minute meltdown by making a three-pointer of its own. The 72-64 victory gave the Buckeyes their first back-to-back wins in the Big Ten this season.

Guard Tony Stockman salvaged the win for OSU as he increased the dwindling Buckeye lead to six points with his sixth three-pointer of the contest. This gave the Buckeyes a wide enough lead for the Wildcats to raise concern with only 1:56 left to play. They began fouling an OSU team that shot 47.6 percent from the free-throw line.

“We said ‘just make sure you pinch that guy and don’t let him get the shot,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said about Stockman. “We let him get the shot though and it led to the win.”

It wasn’t the first time Stockman’s shooting abilities helped his team. With a three-point lead opening the second half, Stockman scored eight points in 2:40. He was the only player on either side to score during that time. It put the Buckeyes nine points on top of Northwestern. Stockman finished the game with 22 points, four assists and six steals.

“I felt I got in a nice little rhythym and was very comfortable with my shots,” Stockman said.

OSU coach Jim O’Brien said he was satisfied with everything about Stockman’s game.

“I think he’s trying so hard,” O’Brien said. “He’s taking good shots. In fact, I can’t think of one shot I didn’t think he should have taken (last night).”

The Buckeyes found themselves in trouble late in the game when Wildcat forwards Vedran Vukusic and Vince Scott put the ball up from behind the arc. The two combined for four three-pointers in 2:23 starting with only 5:17 on the clock.

Before that time the Buckeyes had held as much as a 16-point lead but it shortened to three.

“Pretty much in the second half we came out flat and allowed ourselves to fall behind,” Vukusic said. “It seemed like the only way of coming back was making three’s.”

Vukusic finished the game with 24 points after playing the complete 40 minutes.

O’Brien said the three-point shot range of Northwestern’s bigger men provided a challenge to OSU’s Terence Dials and Velemir Radinovic.

“Typically, Velemir and Terence are not programmed to go out and guard someone from making threes,” he said. “I told them that they shouldn’t feel bad about anything they did incorrectly to lose the lead.”

Stockman led the Buckeyes in every category but rebounds. He had the most points, assists and steals, but also the most turnovers.

Those turnovers threatened OSU’s dominance midway through the first half.

OSU jumped to an early lead as Stockman put up a three and then stole the ball from the Wildcats twice in a matter of 23 seconds. A Stockman and Brandon Fuss-Cheatham lay-up resulted from the grabs. The Buckeyes held a 9-2 lead after the Wildcats’ misfortunes.

“(Stockman) stole every ball we passed (last night) and a lot of them turned into points,” Carmody said. “He is a catch-and-shoot kind of guy who played a heck of a game.”

Turnovers didn’t hurt only Northwestern early on though. When the Buckeyes suffered two traveling violations and the Wildcats’ Mohamed Hochad ripped the ball away from a rushing Stockman, Northwestern was able to take the lead with 11:48 remaining in the first half. Hochad’s jumper gave the Wildcats a one-point lead.

OSU and Northwestern hold the same Big Ten record, 3-4. The Buckeyes host Michigan State at noon Saturday.