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Ohio State stays in tournament contention

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio State badly needed a win over Northwestern to stay teetering on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The Buckeyes overcame a sluggish start and found their footing in the second half to pull away from Northwestern 63-49 on Wednesday night behind Kaleb Wesson’s 22 points and eight rebounds.

Kyle Young and Duane Washington Jr. each added eight points off the bench for the Buckeyes (17-9, 7-8 Big Ten), who snapped a two-game losing streak and stayed on the bubble for now with five regular-season games remaining — four against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.

“I think we knew we really needed this game,” Washington said.

Northwestern (12-14, 3-12) lost its seventh in a row and hasn’t managed a win since the middle of January.

After an ugly first half by both sides, Ohio State made seven of its first 10 shots to start the second half. The Wildcats kept it close with decent defense until C.J. Jackson and Wesson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Ohio State up by 10 with nearly nine minutes left, and the Buckeyes cruised from there. Vic Law led Northwestern with 10 points, and A.J. Turner added nine.

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