National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Ohio St. 73, Arizona 70
When: 7:47 PM ET, Thursday, March 28, 2013
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Officials: # Ed Corbett, # Les Jones, # Brian O'Connell
Attendance: 18232

Ohio State 73, Arizona 70: LaQuinton Ross made a deep 3-pointer with two seconds left and the second-seeded Buckeyes rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to win the NCAA Tournament West Region semifinal in Los Angeles.

Ross scored 17 points off the bench for Ohio State (29-7), which advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season and will play ninth-seeded Wichita State in the West Region final Saturday. Deshaun Thomas led the Buckeyes with 20 points and Aaron Craft contributed 13.

Mark Lyons scored 23 points to lead Arizona, including a three-point play with 21 seconds left that tied the score at 70. Solomon Hill added 16 points for the sixth-seeded Wildcats (27-8).

Ohio State scored the first 10 points of the second half to move ahead by six points, but the game remained close as Hill and Ross each scored nine straight points for their respective teams. Craft had a chance to give the Buckeyes a six-point lead with 1:18 left but missed the second of two free throws and Lyons scored five straight points to tie the score.

Craft went to the bench with his second foul with 9:31 left in the first half, and the Wildcats extended their lead from five points to 11 while he was out of the game. Craft returned with 6:24 remaining and the Buckeyes managed to trim the deficit to 38-34 at the half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ohio State had not come back from a double-digit deficit this season. … Arizona fell to 9-10 all-time against the top two seeds in the NCAA Tournament. … Ohio State sophomore forward Sam Thompson, a 66.2 percent free throw shooter in his career, had his streak of 15 consecutive makes dating back to the Big Ten tournament semifinals ended during the first half. He finished with 11 points.
Top Game Performances
 
Arizona   Ohio St.
Mark Lyons 23 Scoring Deshaun Thomas 20
Solomon Hill 3 Assists Aaron Craft 5
Nick Johnson 7 Rebounds Lenzelle Smith Jr. 8
Mark Lyons 9 Free Throws Made Aaron Craft 7
Nick Johnson 3 Steals Aaron Craft 1
Nick Johnson 1 Blocks Amir Williams 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Arizona 70 44.2 6-18 18-20 7 28 2 6 11
Ohio St. 73 42.3 7-13 22-26 9 29 3 4 8