With just under four seconds remaining and Ohio State clinging to a two-point lead, redshirt freshman guard Kam Williams stepped to the free-throw line for two shots with a chance to seal a win for the Buckeyes against Purdue.
Williams, who is Ohio State's best free-throw shooter percentage-wise, had only attempted 17 all season entering Sunday's game. He surely didn't show any signs of nervousness, though, as he toed the stripe to attempt the most important pair of shots in his young Buckeyes career.
His first free throw hit nothing but net. The second was almost identical.
The crowd of 15,978 inside the Schottenstein Center erupted as the Boilermakers called what was essentially a meaningless timeout. D'Angelo Russell and Jae'Sean Tate sprinted onto the court. Russell gave Williams a two-handed shove that sent him nearly five feet backward.
Ohio State, despite being down 12 points at halftime, had won the game.
"I think the biggest thing was we didn’t panic," Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta said. "The biggest key was we got back to doing what we needed to do."
Falling down by double digits in the first half is nothing new for Ohio State. Coming back to win, however, is. The Buckeyes have trailed at halftime 11 times this season. They've only won three of those now after Sunday's victory over the Boilermakers.
But this one felt a little bit different. Perhaps it's because the calendar has now flipped to March and Ohio State — a team with five seniors — knows it is running out of time.
“I could get used to this; this is great," said freshman sensation D'Angelo Russell, who scored a game-high 28 points and helped sparked the Buckeyes' comeback with a second-half run. "Coach preached in shootaround that it’s March. Every win counts and any win can trigger a run and just getting this win on our home court is great."
It was Russell who starred again for Ohio State, putting his full offensive arsenal on display with step-back jumpers and creative finishes around the rim. With the Buckeyes behind 59-58 and just over one minute to play, Russell took the ball right at Purdue big man A.J. Hammons and finished smoothly at the basket to give Ohio State a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
"I just made a move in the air and it went in,” Russell said. He made it sound as easy as he made it look. It was anything but simple, though.
And while Russell was spectacular, specifically in the second half, the Buckeyes got key contributions from quite a few of their other guys.
Senior point guard Shannon Scott knocked down two huge free throws with 11 seconds left before Williams made his pair. Fellow senior Sam Thompson scored 14 points and snagged five rebounds to go along with a highlight-reel block on Hammons late in the second half. And Amir Williams, the Buckeyes' much-maligned center, played one of the better games of his career as he was able to neutralize the Boilermakers' inside game despite battling foul trouble all night.
"I was very proud of their effort and composure because we didn't panic," said Matta, who improved to 13-0 at home in the month of March as Ohio State's head coach. "Tonight was really a great team win for us."
The hope now for the Buckeyes is that this win can trigger a run to end the regular-season and into the Big Ten tournament. Ohio State has two games left on its schedule — Wednesday at Penn State and next Sunday at home against Wisconsin — before heading to Chicago for the league tourney.
A win like this one over another legitimate team can go a long way.
"This is the type of win that we have to get especially in the month of March," Thompson said. "It’s too late for us to be taking steps backwards now and it’s our time to hit our stride, to really get going and to really put together a run. This is just a step in the right direction."
