Bruce Thornton (2) moved up to fifth on the Buckeyes all-time leading scoring list Wednesday against USC. Credit: Cassandra D’Angelo | Lantern Photographer.
It was a record-setting night for Bruce Thornton.
His jumpshot with 9:38 left in the first half moved him past Kelvin Ransey and up to fifth on the Buckeyes’ all-time leading scorers list.
But with 1:09 remaining, a night meant for celebration was on the verge of unraveling.
As Elijah Arenas drilled a three to cut the Buckeyes’ lead to one, another, far less flattering feat loomed over Thornton and the Buckeyes – their fourth one-possession loss of the season
Their senior leader would not let that happen.
Thornton scored seven points in the game’s final 40 seconds to push Ohio State to a 89-82 win over USC at the Schottenstein Center in it’s 16th win of the season.
“It means a lot,” Thornton said of the achievement. “I never thought it would be one of my goals, it’s definitely a blessing.”
Along with rewriting the record books, Thornton led the Buckeyes with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds. It nearly went to waste.
Ohio State looked like it had put the game away after two Devin Royal free throws capped a 10-2 run to push the lead to nine with 3:25 remaining.
But USC answered ferociously.
A 10-2 Trojan run over the next two minutes, capped by Arenas’ three-pointer, sucked the air out of the Schottenstein Center and trimmed the lead to one.
Then, with a potential season-derailing loss hanging in the balance, the Buckeyes leaned on their senior point guard.
“The clutchness of a lot of those possessions in the last three, four minutes was important,” head coach Jake Diebler said. “This is the time of the year where you see high-level players rise up.”
The start of the game looked nothing like the finish.
The first five minutes suggested it might be another long night for the Buckeyes. Ohio State opened 2-for-12 from the field and fell behind 15-6 with 13:13 remaining.
Issues that contributed to Sunday’s 21-point loss to Michigan carried over early. After getting outrebounded by the Wolverines 43-31, USC again controlled the paint, outrebounding the Buckeyes and grabbing three offensive boards in the opening stretch.
Three-point shooting woes continued as well, with Ohio State going 2-for-13 from deep in the first half.
Thornton was quiet early, as his first field goal did not come until 7:58 into the contest. He responded by scoring six of Ohio State’s next 11 points during a 13-2 run that briefly gave the Buckeyes the lead.
The final nine and a half minutes of the half featured six ties, with Ohio State leading for 49 seconds in that stretch.
A Thornton buzzer-beater before halftime provided a jolt, though the Buckeyes still trailed 43-40 at the break in a physical half that featured 20 total fouls.
Ohio State’s defense, which allowed USC to shoot 51% in the first half, clamped down to start the second.
The Buckeyes held the Trojans scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half and used a 12-2 run to build a five-point lead with 13:39 remaining.
The run began after the first media timeout, when a pair of Christoph Tilly free throws gave Ohio State a lead it would not relinquish.
Despite leading the rest of the way, USC never allowed the margin to grow comfortably. Behind Arenas, who finished with 25 points, the Trojans kept the deficit within two possessions for all but 1 minute and 39 seconds over the final 14:23, trimming the lead to one point three separate times before Thornton helped close it out.
“It’s a Big Ten game in February,” Diebler said. “There’s going to be runs, going to be challenging moments, but our guys stuck together, and our leadership was really good down the stretch.”
Ohio State entered Wednesday’s game ranked 41st in the NET rankings and had a 45% chance to make its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2022, according to Bart Torvik, a percentage that should rise after the win.
And with all the accolades and statistics Thornton has piled up throughout his four-year career at Ohio State, one goal still sits at the top of the senior’s list: reaching his first NCAA tournament.
“All I care about is winning,” Thornton said.
