Micah Parrish and Bruce Thornton scored 20 points apiece and Ohio State snapped a three-game losing streak with an 87-82 victory over Southern California on Wednesday night in Big Ten play at Los Angeles.
John Mobley Jr. had 18 points and Devin Royal tallied 13 for the Buckeyes 16-13, 8-10 Big Ten, who trailed for less a minute and a half early in the game behind torrid first half shooting.
Wesley Yates III scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half and Chibuzo Agbo added 17 for the Trojans (14-14, 6-11), who lost their fourth straight game and sixth in the past seven. Desmond Claude had 12 points before fouling out, and Rashaun Agee also scored 12 points for USC.
Ohio State shot 54 percent from the field, including 11 of 20 from 3-point range. Most of the damage came in the first half when the Buckeyes shot 73.1 percent (19 of 26) from the field and hit 8 of 9 from 3-point range while taking a 52-38 lead.
USC connected on a stellar 60 percent of its attempts for the game and was 7 of 18 from behind the arc.
Thornton made two free throws to give the Buckeyes a 76-69 lead with 7:27 left. USC responded with consecutive layups by Agee, Yates and Claude to move within one with 4:14 remaining.
Thornton and Royal each hit two free throws to give Ohio State an 80-75 lead with 3:08 left.
The Trojans answered with five straight points, with Agee banking in a hook shot to tie it with 1:07 remaini.