Ohio State completes improbable comeback Associated Press NEW YORK - Even Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien thought St. John's had this one locked up. With his 13th-ranked Buckeyes trailing No. 19 St. John's by 10 points with 2:48 to play, O'Brien was thinking just what the rest of the crowd of 15,164 at Madison Square Garden was. "Privately, I didn't think we could do it," he said. "I thought it was one of those games where we just couldn't get anything done." The Buckeyes turned up the defense, got some offense from a struggling Michael Redd and blocked two shots over the final four seconds as they scored the game's final 11 points for a 65-64 victory over St. John's on Saturday. "This was absolutely an incredible win for us," O'Brien said. "For 38 minutes we had no right winning the game and for the last two we had every right. This was not one of our better performances but the kids refused to fold up and go away." The Buckeyes (13-3) trailed 64-54 with 2:48 left when Bootsy Thornton hit a 3-pointer for St. John's. Ohio State then forced turnovers on the Red Storm's next three possessions and the defense only intensified over the final seconds as St. John's last two shots were blocked - a move down low by Anthony Glover with four seconds left by Ken Johnson and a 3-point attempt by Erick Barkley at the buzzer by Scoonie Penn. "What happened was we allowed Ohio State to hang around and be in a position for players like Redd and Penn to do what they do best," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "We paid the price for not taking care of the ball when we had to." Redd, who came into the game averaging 15.1 points per game, struggled offensively as St. John's seemed to take control of the rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament regional final that was won by 77-74 by the Buckeyes. No. 10 Michigan St. 69, Northwestern 45 EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill was realistic when he compared his young basketball team to Michigan State's veteran squad. "I think they have a better chance of beating us 10 in a row than we have of beating them once in 10 games," O'Neill said Saturday after the No. 10 Spartans rolled past his Wildcats 69-45. "They're not at the top of their game now and they probably won't be until the Big Ten Tournament, but by the end of the year that's a team that will play for it all," O'Neill said. Charlie Bell scored 14 points and Morris Peterson and Andre Hutson added 11 apiece to extend the Spartans' winning streak in East Lansing to 22 games. Michigan State (13-5, 4-1) had its 21-game Big Ten winning streak snapped by Ohio State last Thursday. Northwestern (4-13, 0-5) lost its eighth straight. "It's good to bounce back with a win," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I thought we did some things well, but there are still some concerns about where we are and where we want to be for a shot at repeating (as Big Ten champions). "We're still not in sync. I said that I hoped to be there by the end of January, and we're still 10 days away from that, but the (shoulder) injury to (freshman Jason) Richardson muddies the waters. I just hope we can survive until we get everyone back in sync." Purdue 83, No. 11 Indiana 77 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Jaraan Cornell's ugliest shot was the one that hurt Indiana the most. The Purdue senior scored 25 points and hit six 3-pointers, including an off-balance shot he banked off the glass to give the Boilermakers the lead in the closing minutes of an 83-77 victory over the No. 11 Hoosiers on Saturday. "It wasn't luck," he said. "I just had to adjust my body. I was backpedaling, trying to get open, and I saw Michael Lewis come out. He got a hand on one of my shots earlier, and I had to get more arc in it than normal and it just caught the glass. "It definitely was one of my better games," said Cornell, whose scoring offset the 27 points by Indiana's A.J. Guyton. "Their role is to get A.J. the ball, and they do a good job of it," he said. "We just had to counter the attack. With the seniors on the court, we didn't get discouraged, and I had a chance to get some nice looks." Originally on page 5B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.