No. 24 Ohio State 63, Purdue 61: LaQuinton Ross posted 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as the Buckeyes edged the Boilermakers in a Big Ten tournament first-round matchup in Indianapolis.

Aaron Craft added 16 points and three steals for No. 5 seed Ohio State (24-8), which will face fourth-seeded Nebraska in Friday's quarterfinals. In addition to defeating Purdue for the sixth straight time, the Buckeyes improved to 19-4 over their last 23 contests at the Big Ten tournament.

A.J. Hammons tallied 15 points, nine boards and five blocks for 12th-seeded Purdue (15-17), which suffered its seventh straight loss and has been eliminated from the Big Ten tournament in the first round in three of the past four seasons. Ronnie Johnson contributed 12 points while Terone Johnson and Kendall Stephens poured in 10 apiece for the Boilermakers.

Terone Johnson scored six straight points to give Purdue its first advantage since midway through the first half at 36-34 before Ross’ three-point play set off an exchange in which the teams swapped the lead six times over a 3½-minute span. After Hammons’ three-point play gave the Boilermakers a four-point margin with 8:18 to go, Craft and Ross combined for nine points during a 12-3 surge that allowed Ohio State to pull ahead 59-54 with 3:25 left.

Ronnie Johnson’s layup and another bucket from Hammons made it 61-60 with 18 seconds remaining before Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. each went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to extend Ohio State's margin to three. After Ronnie Johnson was fouled with two seconds to go and made his first foul shot, the Boilermakers were rewarded possession after a long replay review when his second attempt went out of bounds off the Buckeyes, but Terone Johnson’s last-second 3-point attempt fell just short.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Purdue (2-of-10) and Ohio State (1-of-14) combined to shoot 3-for-24 from beyond the arc. … The Boilermakers have dropped five of their last six in the Big Ten tournament. … The Buckeyes have won eight of the last 10 meetings since Purdue defeated them in the 2009 Big Ten championship game.