Christoph Tilly, rebounding from going scoreless in his previous game, put up 19 points to help Ohio State defeat struggling Maryland 82-62 in College Park Md., on Thursday.
Bruce Thornton had 17 points and John Mobley Jr. added 15 for the Buckeyes (15-7, 7-5 Big Ten), who have won four of their past six games.
Projected as on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, the Buckeyes could not afford a loss to Maryland (8-14, 1-10). The Terrapins have lost four straight and eight of the past nine.
Elijah Saunders scored 20 points, Solomon Washington 13 and Andre Mills 11 for the Terrapins, whose 16 turnovers led to 24 points for the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, Maryland scored two points from eight Ohio State miscues.
Saunders and Ohio State’s Taison Chatman (10 points) received flagrant fouls with 1:34 to play and were ejected.
Maryland tried to hang with the Buckeyes and trailed 59-46 with 11 minutes to play before Ohio State went on a 9-0 run over the next 1:47 to make it 68-46 for its largest lead.
Tilly logged 11 points while guiding the Buckeyes to a 42-30 halftime lead. After going 0-for-8 from the floor in 19 minutes during a 92-82 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, he hit four of his first five shots for eight points in the first 10 minutes when Ohio State jumped ahead 23-12.
He averages 11.7 points.
It was 28-18 for the Buckeyes when the Terrapins came to life after Thornton missed a pair of free throws. Mills then went the other way to posterize Ivan Njegovan with a left-handed windmill dunk.
Later, Maryland’s Darius Adams made a falling-down 3-pointer, was fouled on the play by Thornton and completed the rare four-point play to make it 30-26.
That’s when Tilly reemerged for his final points of the half with a triple to make it 33-26, and Amare Bynum followed with a two-handed slam on the break off an assist by Mobley.
