Indiana Loses Game--and Share of Title : Big Ten: Austin makes six shots in a row to rally Purdue to a 61-59 victory that gives Ohio State the conference championship.

Woody Austin came out of his shooting slump just in time to knock Indiana out of a share of the Big Ten title Sunday at West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers’ senior guard made only two of his first 10 shots--but then hit six in a row as Purdue rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat the fourth-ranked Hoosiers, 61-59, giving Ohio State the Big Ten title.

“The coach called a lot of set plays, and when I got hot, I just relaxed,” said Austin, who had 13 of his 20 points in the second half. “When I went two for 10, I was tight, trying to force a couple shots, trying to aim a couple shots, too.”

Purdue Coach Gene Keady just told him to keep shooting. He did.

“After that, I hit six straight and just tried to relax and play my game,” Austin said.

Three free throws in the final 35 seconds by Matt Waddell kept Purdue (16-14, 8-10) in front as the Boilermakers avenged a 41-point blowout at Bloomington on Jan. 29.

Indiana, mired in a shooting slump, shot 37% from the field to finish one game behind Ohio State in the Big Ten race. The Hoosiers have averaged under 38% the past four games.

The Hoosiers made only one of their first nine shots and two of their first 15 as Indiana scored less than 70 points for the fourth consecutive game, its longest such streak in nine years.

Coach Bob Knight came into the postgame interview room, saw Austin was still talking, turned around and left without saying a word. None of the Indiana players were available, either.

The Hoosiers (23-6, 14-4) rallied from nine points down in the first half and took a 10-point lead midway through the second half, but their frigid shooting let the Boilermakers take control the rest of the way.

Purdue ran off 10 straight points, the last six on three straight baskets by Austin.

Indiana’s last lead was at 53-52 on two free throws by Eric Anderson with 3:26 to go. There was one more tie at 54-54, then a free throw by Craig Riley and a basket by Cuonzo Martin put the Boilermakers ahead for good.

In another Big Ten game Sunday:

No. 16 Michigan State 64, Iowa 53--Anthony Miller scored all of his 15 points in the second half as the Spartans beat the Hawkeyes at East Lansing, Mich., to clinch a third-place tie with Michigan in the Big Ten.

Michigan State (21-7, 11-7) led 24-19 after a defensive first half and 34-26 with 16:28 left before a 10-2 run by Iowa (18-10, 10-8), which finished fifth.