When the calendar flips to March, the mantra in college basketball is “Just win, baby.”

It’s not quite March yet, but Ohio State took that advice to heart. It was not pretty as the Buckeyes hosted a struggling Michigan team, but it was a win.

The ninth-ranked Buckeyes overcame a first-half lapse with a strong defensive effort in the second half on their way to a 66-55 win over the Wolverines before 18,862 Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena.

OSU (23-7, 13-4) jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, but then trailed 33-32 at halftime. The Buckeyes then held Michigan to 26.1 percent shooting (6 of 23) in the second half to roll to the win.

“It was another great team win to keep our momentum going in the next game and finish up our season,” said OSU point guard Evan Turner.

Wing Wiliam Buford led the Buckeyes with 24 points and nine rebounds. He was 9 of 15 from the floor, including 3 of 3 on three-pointers.

“I had a lot of good looks on the perimeter and my teammates were able to get me the ball,” said Buford, who was a perfect 3 of 3 behind the three-point arc. “I was just knocking down shots.”

Turner added 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, although he also had eight of OSU’s 12 turnovers. He connected on 8 of 11 shots from the floor.

OSU center Dallas Lauderdale won his duel with UM center DeShawn Sims, who had 28 points when the Wolverines downed OSU 73-64 back on Jan. 3. In this game, Lauderdale connected on 7 of 9 shots and matched his career high with 14 points for the Buckeyes.

"I thought Dallas was eager to play in this game after DeShawn Sims had such a monstrous game against us up there,” said OSU coach Thad Matta. “Our guys were making great passes to find him. He did a nice job of finishing. He is an explosive player that can finish plays whenever the ball is around his normal vicinity."

“My coaches were in my ear all week about he had 30 against us up there,” Lauderdale said. “I didn’t want him to do that again. I just did what I had to do.”

Turner had several alley oop passes to Lauderdale.

“We threw the ball high in practice and I knew he was going to get it,” Turner said. “He's a freak athlete. I had no doubt he was going to grab the ball.”

Lauderdale added, “I just tell my teammates to just throw it and I’ll go get it.”

The win allowed OSU to remain within arm’s length of Big Ten-leading Purdue (24-3, 12-3). The third-ranked Boilers will host No. 14 Michigan State (21-7, 11-4) on Sunday. The Spartans need a win to stay in the Big Ten race. If MSU wins, Ohio State would play Illinois for at least a share of the Big Ten title in Tuesday’s regular season finale at Value City Arena.

“I’ve never been a guy who thought about a conference championship along the way,” Matta said. “I always say you want to be able to play your best basketball at the end of the season. I told our guys on Dec. 30^th when we went to Madison that we had 19 battles and (the Big Ten) would be decided in March. I am very proud of where we are today.”

Michigan (13-15, 6-10) lost for the eighth time in its last 11 games. The Wolverines had five players in double figures with Sims, Zack Novak and Darius Morris all with 11 and Stu Douglass and Manny Harris with 10.

“I would say that the first half today was one of our better performances, but Ohio State is just such a talented team,” said UM coach John Beilein. “There aren’t a lot of people out there that can do what Evan Turner does where you can just give him the ball 17 feet from the hoop and he makes it happen. We tried to keep the ball out of his hands but Buford found too many shots as well.”

Harris had also burned the Buckeyes in the first meeting at Michigan, going for 24 points in that game. He was 1 for 8 from the floor in this game.

“They had some long defenders on him,” Beilein said. “They were staying right on him. Every time he got the ball, they had one on him and a second guy gapping him. When that happens, he has to keep the ball moving and wait until the next opportunity.”

Early on, this game looked like it was going to be an Ohio State rout. The Buckeyes made their first four shots and the Wolverines missed their first five as OSU jumped out to a 9-0 lead.

Turner started it with a pull-up jumper. David Lighty then had a driving layup down the lane. Jon Diebler notched his only three points of the game on a trey off a pass from Buford. Buford then got a running one-hander in transition after an assist from Turner. Beilein called a timeout with 17:05 left to calm his team.

Michigan slowed down the tempo and began to chip away. UM got the lead down to 23-17 with 6:38 left in the half after a three by Douglass.

Michigan later reeled off seven straight points with Morris scoring on a drive and Novak hitting a three and making a layup off a Turner turnover. That spurt allowed UM to grab a 26-25 lead with 3:35 left. Matta called a timeout to change the momentum for his team.

OSU moved up 32-29 after a Turner three-point play with 1:47 left. But the Wolverines scored the last four points of the half as Sims had a rebound basket and Morris made a pair of free throws. UM led 33-32 at the break.

OSU trailed at halftime despite hitting 63.6 percent of its shots (14 of 22) from the floor.

“Our biggest problem in the first half was our carelessness,” Matta said. “We had seven turnovers and they were converting them at the other end. We wanted to continue to attack. Fortunately, our guys made some big plays for us down the stretch.”

Ohio State roared out of the blocks to start the second half, going on a 14-4 run to take a 47-37 lead with 11:59 left. Turner started it with a pull-up jumper. Buford then had a layup off a Lighty feed. The run continued with a Lauderdale jam, Buford scoring in transition off another Lighty pass, a Turner rebound basket and a Lauderdale layup off a Turner feed.

After a three by UM’s Morris, Buford hit an 18-foot jumper for the Buckeyes. Lighty then spotted Lauderdale inside and he made an overhead dunk for a 51-40 lead with 10:26 left.

On three occasions after that that, Michigan got the lead down to seven. The last time was on two Harris free throws that made it 59-52 with 4:15 left. Harris was then fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 4:06 left.

Turner glided in and hit a clutch 12-foot jumper for a 61-52 lead with 3:45 left. Lauderdale provided the capper, converting a Turner steal and Buford assist into a jam for a 66-53 lead with 1:12 left. Morris completed the scoring with a rebound basket for UM with 21 seconds left.

“Maybe they upped the intensity in the second half,” Beilein said. “We had some breakdowns that we didn’t have in the first half, but they have been typical of this team. That’s been the frustrating part of our year.”

Also Notable

* For the second game in a row, Diebler struggled from the floor. He was 2 for 10 from three-point range Wednesday against Penn State and was 1 for 7 from behind the arc vs. Michigan.

* OSU has now won 12 of their last 14 games overall and 12 of their last 13 conference games after a 1-3 start in Big Ten play.

* Ohio State now leads the all-time series 86-71. OSU has now won 10 of the last 12 games overall. The Buckeyes are now 50-26 in Columbus against UM with victories in each of the last six games. OSU is now 9-1 all-time against Michigan in VCA. The lone loss came in 2003 (61-50).

Ohio State has never lost at home to Michigan when ranked. The Buckeyes are 12-0 in such games.

* Matta is now 10-2 in his career against Michigan.

* At home against unranked opponents, OSU is now 86-2 overall and 14-0 this season under Matta.

* Ohio State is 3-4 this season when trailing at the half.

* Ohio State improved to 16-1 this season at VCA.

* Lauderdale leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage, making 76.9 percent (90-of-117). In home games, Lauderdale is shooting 81.6 percent (49-of-60).

* The Buckeyes wrap the regular season against Illinois (18-10, 10-5) Tuesday. The game will start at 9 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN. OSU defeated Illinois 72-53 on Feb. 14 in Champaign.

* In terms of Sunday’s Michigan State-Purdue game, the players were asked if they had any advice for the Spartans.

“Just try your hardest,” Turner said. “There are no losers.”

Matta was asked if he planned to root for MSU or watch the game.

“The fact that game tomorrow could determine some type of our fate, yeah, I’ll have an interest in it,” he said. “But we’ve got to get these guys ready to go again Tuesday night.”

Matta confirmed that the Buckeyes will practice at the same time as that MSU-Purdue game.

“Maybe we will see the second half,” he said.