Ohio State hands No. 6 Purdue second loss in a row

Ohio State's Evan Turner dismantled Purdue's highly respected defense.

Turner scored 23 of his career-high 32 points in the second half, and the visiting Buckeyes rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat No. 6 Purdue, 70-66, last night.

Turner scored 14 of Ohio State's final 18 points. He also had nine rebounds in his third game back since missing a month with a fracture in his back.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta said he's not sure Turner is 100 percent healthy yet.

"Honestly, I hope about 50," Matta joked. "I think he's getting it back. I've gone back, I've looked at a lot of tape of when we've had him [before the injury], and he was playing at a high level. I thought he played at a high level tonight."

Purdue coach Matt Painter couldn't find the right defense for the 6-7 point guard.

"Evan Turner had his way with all of our guys," Painter said.

"I was just motivated to try and win," Turner said. "I know I'm going to end up getting my points and my shots."

William Buford had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Buckeyes (12-5, 2-3 Big Ten), who were in danger of falling out of the conference race early.

Robbie Hummel scored 29 of his career-high 35 points in the first half for Purdue (14-2, 2-2). He tied a school record with eight three-pointers and had 10 rebounds.

E'Twaun Moore added 19 points for the Boilermakers, who lost their second straight after tying a school record with 14 straight wins to start the season. Purdue was coming off a 73-66 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday. It was the first home loss for the Boilermakers this season.

Purdue took an early 13-9 lead before Ohio State responded with a 9-0 run, including three buckets by Buford, to take an 18-13 advantage with 10 minutes to play in the first half.

Hummel responded with perhaps the most impressive three-point shooting barrage in Purdue history. He made six threes in the final 6:02 of the half.

The Boilermakers closed the first half on an 11-2 run that included three three-pointers by Hummel to take a 41-29 lead.

Hummel's eight threes in the half tied Cuonzo Martin's school record for threes in a game set in 1994 and broke the Mackey Arena record of seven in a game. He surpassed his previous career high of 25 before the break.

Ohio State started the second half with a 13-6 run to cut Purdue's lead to 47-42, but Moore converted a three-point play to temporarily slow the Buckeyes' momentum.

The Buckeyes closed to 58-52, but a layup by Moore after an Ohio State turnover, then a fastbreak dunk by JaJuan Johnson made it 62-52 with 4:07 to play.

Ohio State responded with a 10-0 run, all on points by Turner, to tie the game. Hummel left the game late with what appeared to be a dislocated finger, but he returned with two fingers on his left hand taped together with 2:04 left.

Hummel made two free throws with 20.5 seconds left, but Ohio State got the ball inbounds against Purdue's pressure, and Buford converted two free throws with 16.8 seconds left to create the final margin.

In other games:

* At Florida State, Scott Wood scored a career-high 31 points to lead North Carolina State (12-5, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) to an 88-81 upset of the No. 25 Seminoles. Chris Singleton scored 22 points for Florida State (13-4 1-2).

* At Florida, Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 25 points, Patrick Patterson added 15 and No. 2 Kentucky (17-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) stayed unbeaten with an 86-75 victory.

* At Kansas State, Denis Clemente scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half, and the No. 13 Wildcats (14-2, 1-1 Big 12) routed Texas A & M, 88-65.

* At Colorado, Cory Higgins had 18 points and led five players in double figures as the Buffaloes (10-6, 1-1 Big 12) upset No. 22 Baylor, 78-71.

LaceDarius Dunn had 23 points for the Bears (13-2, 1-1).

* At Illinois, Demetri McCamey scored 25 points to lead the Illini (12-5, 4-0 Big Ten) to a 54-53 comeback victory over Penn State. McCamey hit a jump shot with 1:02 to play to give the Illini a 53-52 lead that stood up. Penn State's Talor Battle missed a jump shot as the game ended.

Chris Babb led Penn State (8-8, 0-4) with 15 points.

In women's games:

* At Notre Dame, Lindsay Schrader had 18 points and 13 rebounds as the No. 3 Fighting Irish (15-0, 2-0 Big East) beat South Florida, 81-64.

* At Kansas, Andrea Riley had 30 points and Toni Young scored her only basket with 3.5 seconds left to lift No. 15 Oklahoma State (14-2, 2-0 Big 12) past the Jayhawks, 70-68. Kansas redshirt freshman Angel Goodrich left the game in the second half with a right knee injury.

* At Nebraska, Kelsey Griffin scored 26 points to lead the No. 11 Cornhuskers (15-0, 2-0 Big 12) to a 91-79 victory over No. 19 Texas (11-5, 0-2), which was led by Brittainey Raven's 22 points.

* At Georgetown, Sugar Rodgers scored 26 points to lead the No. 24 Hoyas (14-2, 3-0 Big East) to a 74-62 win over Providence. *