The first crack in the Ohio State armor was delivered by Saturday’s opponent.

Riding high at 8-1 overall and on the cusp of climbing into the Associated Press top 25, the Buckeyes led by 18 points at Penn State with 15:31 to play only to stumble their way to an 83-80 loss. It was a gradual surrender by the Buckeyes, who would use 10 different lineup combinations in the final 15 minutes in a futile effort to stave off the Penn State comeback.

The loss showed that Ohio State wasn’t past occasionally getting burned when playing with fire, and that lesson has been hammered home again during the last two weeks. When the Buckeyes host the Nittany Lions in the rematch, they’ll do so on a three-game losing streak that has seen them again falter late. But unlike in the Penn State game, or the Jan. 10 home loss to No. 15 Wisconsin, Ohio State rallied late after falling behind by double digits only to fall short.

Down by 10 at Indiana with 3:34 to play, Ohio State made it a 67-65 game with 1:44 remaining but couldn’t get another stop and score to tie the game or take the lead in a 71-65 loss on Jan. 6. Nine days later against Michigan, the Buckeyes turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with a 16-0 run around the midpoint of the second half but couldn’t hold on from there in a 73-65 loss inside the Crisler Center.

In examining the lineups used by coach Chris Holtmann in both games, there is no real overlap between the players who led the temporary comebacks – or the ones who allowed the deficits to grow.

At Indiana, Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., Jamison Battle and Felix Okpara were on the court for the entirety of the late-game comeback as Scotty Middleton and Evan Mahaffey rotated in and out of the lineup. As Indiana turned Ohio State’s 50-49 lead into a 66-56 Hoosier advantage during a span of 7:36, Ohio State’s starting lineup (Thornton, Gayle, Battle, Mahaffey and Okpara) was outscored 4-0 in 2:37. Then, in 21 seconds as the Buckeyes were rallying late, the starters outscored the Hoosiers 2-0.

Against Michigan, though, the Buckeyes rallied by using three different lineups that had three players in common, two of whom haven’t made much of a statistical impact in recent weeks.

While Ohio State rotated Thornton, Gayle and Middleton through those lineups, the constants were Dale Bonner, Zed Key and Okpara. It was the most success the Buckeyes have had playing Key and Okpara together all season, and from 12:00 until 4:53 Ohio State outscored Michigan 16-8 with Bonner, Key and Okpara together.

The heart of that run came with Gayle and Middleton in the backcourt, allowing the Buckeyes to outscore Michigan 6-0 in 1:55 before Thornton returned with 8:09 to play and the lead at 56-55.

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“In particular, thought our bench gave us a lift,” Holtmann said after the game. “Dale was great in that second-half stretch. Playing big helped us. Obviously we’ve got to finish games and close out games better but I thought there were really some positives we can take into this week.”

With 4:53 left and the Ohio State lead at two points, Holtmann went back to his starters and rode them until the final seconds. They were outscored, 12-6, in the next 4:29 to finish the game at minus-4 (36 points scored, 40 allowed) in 20:47.

Against Penn State, Ohio State’s starters were plus-3 (31 points scored, 28 allowed) in 12:10. Against Indiana, they were minus-6 (17 points scored, 23 allowed) in 14:03. The 20:47 of playing time at Michigan was the most for an Ohio State lineup in a game this season.

“When our body’s hurting in the last 2-3 minutes of the game, we’ve got to take that next step,” Okpara said. “We do it in practice every day. We’ve got to keep going hard when we’re tired.”

Bonner’s play at Michigan, and Key’s ability to play alongside Okpara, could help with that. The Penn State rematch will be the next chance to find out.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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