COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The men's basketball team, led by a suffocating defense, jumped out to a substantial first-half lead and held on to dispose of Ohio State, 78-64, on Saturday in front of 11,323 at St. John Arena.

Penn State (10-2, 2-1 Big Ten) earned its first victory over Ohio State (4-9, 0-3) since joining the Big Ten. After consecutive conference wins over the Buckeyes and Michigan on Jan. 8, the Lions have now beaten all but two Big Ten members -- Indiana and Illinois -- since joining three years ago.

"This is really a great win for us," Lion Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "Not just because it's a road win in the league, but like I said before the game, I really think Ohio State is a good basketball team."

Penn State carried a 35-31 advantage into halftime, but led by as many as 12 twice in the first half. The first half was characterized by sloppy shooting by both teams and massive scrambles for loose balls and rebounds.

The turning point of the contest came at the beginning of the second half. It swayed the momentum in the Lions' favor, and Penn State did not look back.

Buckeye forward Rickey Dudley hit an off-balance, baseline jumper at the buzzer to close the first half and cut the Lions' lead to four. The shot ignited a hostile home crowd that was waiting for something to cheer about.

But Lion forward Glenn Sekunda silenced the 11,000-plus on hand when he connected on two consecutive three-pointers in a 59-second span to open the second half. The two treys built an insurmountable 10-point Lion lead the Buckeyes could not overcome.

"We got down by 10 early in the second half," said Buckeye guard Doug Etzler, "and there's always a little spurt where we're playing catch-up the rest of the game."

Ohio State did pull to within six at the 17-minute, 37-second mark of the second half and was within seven with just over two minutes to play when Etzler hit a three-pointer.

But Penn State connected on 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch, including two one-and-one opportunities to seal the win.

"It's key," Lion center John Amaechi said. "In close games, foul shooting is key. If you can not knock down foul shots late in the game, it's real hard to live with."

Despite holding the four-point advantage at halftime, Penn State shot a miserable 36.4 percent from the field on 12-of-33 shooting, but outhustled Ohio State for loose balls and rebounds on both ends of the court.

Led by Amaechi, the Lions crashed the boards relentlessly, clearing 29 first-half rebounds -- including eight offensive -- and 44 for the game. Meanwhile, the undersized Ohio State squad struggled with no offensive rebounds and just 13 total for the first half, while collecting 33 for the game.

The Lions were led by Sekunda's 23 points and eight rebounds while Amaechi added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Rick Yudt led the Buckeyes with 17 points while center Antonio Watson and Dudley both chipped in 10.

Ohio State controlled the opening tipoff and built a 6-2 lead at the 17:26 mark, but Penn State ran off eight consecutive points in two minutes en route to opening a 10-6 lead it would not relinquish.