Honolulu native Justice Sueing scored a career-high 33 points as Ohio State defeated No. 21 Texas Tech 80-73 in the fifth-place game at the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Wednesday.
Sueing scored 15 consecutive points, punctuated by a dunk on a breakaway, for the Buckeyes (5-1) to give them a 74-67 lead with 1:04 left in the game. He also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Sean McNeil scored 13 and Brice Sensabaugh added 10 for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes shot 51.9 percent from the floor and made all 18 free throws.
Daniel Batcho had 21 points and Kevin Obanor 19 for the Red Raiders (4-2).
Ohio State expanded a four-point lead at the half to 52-41, with 14 minutes left when Sueing made a bucket and free throw.
He later gave the Buckeyes a 65-58 lead when he was fouled while shooting and made all three foul shots. It was 68-61 when he made a pair of free throws, the first was his 28th point to break his previous best.
The Red Raiders clawed their way from a 13-point deficit to trail 41-37 at halftime when Harmon made a spinning layup with one second left for Texas Teach.
Still, the Buckeyes’ point total was three more than the Red Raiders allowed in a 70-38 win over Louisville on Tuesday.
It was the McNeil (nine points) and Sueing (eight) show early as they combined to give the Buckeyes a 17-10 lead seven minutes into the game.
Sensabaugh came off the bench to drain a 3-pointer to make it 23-10 two minutes later on the strength of Ohio State making nine of its first 15 shots before the Red Raiders started the comeback and
Elijah Fisher made a conventional 3-pointer for a 23-19 score.
The Red Raiders opened the tournament with 76-65 loss to No. 10 Creighton. Ohio State fell 88-77 to No. 17 San Diego State before downing Cincinnati 81-53.
— Field Level Media
