Ohio State basketball loses to Michigan for the third time in a row.

The Ohio State Buckeyes struggled to close out their game against the Michigan Wolverines on Monday, even though they had taken a late lead.

Ohio State (12-5, 2-4 Big Ten) dropped its third straight Big Ten game 73-65 in front of a packed crowd at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Michigan (7-10, 2-4 Big Ten).

Sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, who had seven in the first half, went 3-9 from the field, including 1-5 on a lot of quick 3s. Over those last five halves, Thornton shot 2-17 from downtown.

Ohio State struggled to find scoring from anywhere, but one light came from freshman forward Devin Royal, who had seven points and three rebounds in just six minutes off the bench. Royal hadn’t played the last two games — both losses — and averages less than eight minutes per game as he sits behind sophomore Felix Okpara and senior Zed Key.