Pitt Beats Ohio State on Wild Buzzer Beater

Back-and-Forth Second Half Sees Ohio State Fight Back

Ohio State came out the second half the better of the two teams, scoring six points, with Royal making a layup and a jumper, forcing Pitt head coach Jeff Capel to take a timeout less than 90 seconds in.

Siulepa also picked up two fouls, which put him at fouls in the first minute of the period, forcing him to the bench.

Pitt then got some offense going, with Dunning making a 3-pointer, Corhen scoring a layup and Witherspoon making a layup and adding a free throw, keeping the home team up 42-35 at the 15:00 mark.

The Buckeyes went on a 7-0 run and tied the game up at 42-42, as senior guard Bruce Thornton made two free throws, senior center Cristoph Tilly scored a layup and Royal hit a 3-pointer.

Dunning scored a layup and Corhen converted an and-one layup opportunity, but Ohio State got a layup from Thornton, then two free throws each from redshirt sophomore guard Gabe Cupps and Tilly gave the road team their first lead of the game, 48-47 at the under-eight minute media timeout.

Ohio State got two big plays from Thornton, who converted an and-one opportunity off a layup, and Royal, who made a 3-pointer. Tilly also made four free throws for the Buckeyes.

Dunning kept Pitt in the game, as he scored seven of their next nine points, including coverting an and-one opportunity, that made it a 58-57 deficit out of the final media timeout with 3:26 remaining.

Royal made two big baskets for the Buckeyes on a layup and a jumper, while Dunning added a layup, Corhen made a free throw and Witherspoon made two free throws himself, as Pitt tied the game up at 62-62 with 1:21 remaining.

Thornton gave Ohio State the lead back at 64-62 with 1:03 left, but Corhen went back to the foul line and made up for some previous misses, making both of his attempts, tying the game back up at 64-64 with 35 seconds remaining.

The Buckeyes took a timeout and while Tilly missed the shot, Bynum made the tip-in off the miss for the go-ahead score to take a 66-64 lead with three seconds left.

Damarco Minor Hits Game-Winning Buzzer Beater for Pitt

Dunning took the ball out of bounds and found Minor for the in-bounds, who had to make something, otherwise Pitt would lose.

Minor ran down the court, go to within five points of the 3-point line, put up a shot fading-away and made it, sending the Pitt crowd into a frenzy.

This made it back-to-back seasons that Pitt got a buzzer-beater win over Ohio State, as forward Zack Austin made a 3-pointer in the 91-90 win in Columbus on Nov. 29, 2024.

It is also the first true, walk-off buzzer beater for Pitt since Ashton Gibbs made a 3-pointer in the 73-71 victory over Providence on March 4, 2010.

Players of the Game for Pitt

Minor bounced back from a poor performance vs. Quinnipiac, scoring just six points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field, and made 18 points. He shot 7-for-14 from the field and 3-for-8 from 3-point range, while making a team-high and season-high five steals.

He tied for the team lead with 18 points, as Corhen scored 18 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the floor. 5-for-10 shooting from the foul line and a 3-pointer.

Dunning had a great game himself, scoring 18 points as well, shooting 8-for-13 from the field.

Witherspoon added 11 points and Siulepa scored two points, which saw Pitt get all their scoring output from their starters.