BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jacy Sheldon had 25 points and five steals, and No. 6 seed Ohio State overcame an early double-digit deficit to beat 11th seed Missouri State 63-56 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Sheldon made 10 of 12 free throws for the Buckeyes, who didn’t take the lead for good until Taylor Mikesell hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 54-52 with 3:10 left.
Brice Calip scored 15 points for Missouri State, getting them as close as 58-56 with 41 seconds left.
Ifunanya Nwachukwu grabbed 17 rebounds for Missouri State.
Ohio State (24-6) will play No. 3 seed LSU in the second round Monday (8:00 p.m./ESPN2).