Trevor Thompson had a career-high 19 points and Ohio State beat Minnesota 78-72 on Wednesday night in a Big Ten game at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

JaQuan Lyle made two free throws and Thompson hit one with six seconds left to seal the win.

An 11-2 Minnesota run had cut Ohio State's lead to one with four minutes left.

Marc Loving, who also had 19 points for the Buckeyes, hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left to put Ohio State up 75-69.

After Akeem Springs answered for Minnesota, a held-ball call on Ohio State's inbounds pass with 43.9 seconds left gave the ball back to Minnesota. But Springs lost ball out of bounds after he appeared to be fouled.

Loving was 6 of 10 from the field as the Buckeyes shot 50 percent as a team.

The Golden Gophers (15-6, 3-4) have lost four in a row after starting the season 15-2.

Nate Mason scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half to lead Minnesota, which was outscored 23-14 at the free throw line.

Ohio State outscored Minnesota 19-8 during an eight-minute stretch to take their biggest lead of the first half at 17 points. But the Gophers scored the final 12 points before intermission and held the Buckeyes scoreless to cut their deficit to 40-35.

Ohio State, which shot 52 percent from the field in the first half, got off to a hot start.

The Buckeyes were 7 of 9 from the field in the first seven minutes as a 14-2 run gave them an 18-8 lead.

Ohio State made all nine of its free throws in the first 20 minutes and had nine assists.

Thompson led Ohio State with 12 points in the first half. Lynch scored nine points for Minnesota, which shot 43.3 percent from the field.

Ohio State, which lost at home to Northwestern for the first time in 40 years last weekend, won for the third time in four games after starting its Big Ten schedule 0-4.