No. 13 Ohio State 68, Illinois 55: Deshaun Thomas scored 19 points as the host Buckeyes avenged an earlier blowout loss to the Illini in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Aaron Craft finished with 14 points and six assists for Ohio State (23-7, 13-5 Big Ten), which won its fifth straight game. Ohio State, though, failed to gain a share of its fourth straight Big Ten title when Indiana won it outright with a 72-71 victory over Michigan on Sunday.

Brandon Paul led all scorers with 21 points for Illinois (21-11, 8-10). The Illini, who defeated the Buckeyes 74-55 on Jan. 5, concluded their regular season in a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference with Minnesota and Purdue.

Neither team could establish much separation until the Buckeyes clamped down on defense by forcing the Illini into eight consecutive missed shots to end the first half. Ohio State used the cold spell to take a lead it did not relinquish on a jumper from Thomas with 5:47 left before intermission, closing the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 33-24 advantage.

Thomas continued his offensive surge early in the second half, scoring his team’s first eight points after the break to increase the lead to 12. Even though the Buckeyes could not stretch the margin past 13 points, Illinois could inch no closer than seven the rest of the way.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ohio State has won seven of the last nine meetings. … G Joseph Bertrand – Illinois’ fourth-leading scorer – suffered a shoulder injury in practice Thursday and did not play. … The Buckeyes committed 14 turnovers – their most in their last 12 games.