Jerry Carino

@njhoopshaven

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A few minutes before the opening tip, the mascots were shadowboxing at mid-court. Then the Rutgers Scarlet Knight pulled out his sword and the Ohio State buckeye scampered away.

That’s pretty much how the ensuing basketball game went. Rutgers pounded Ohio State into submission on the offensive glass, registering a landmark 66-57 victory in Wednesday’s Big Ten Tournament opener.

It was a fitting way for the 14th-seeded Scarlet Knights (15-17) to earn the program’s inaugural win in this event.

“This is the start of a new era,” junior guard Mike Williams said. “I feel like we’re more locked in than I’ve ever seen us.”

Rutgers has out-worked more talented teams many times this season, often to no avail. The lopsided hustle numbers tipped the outcome here: 19-7 on the offensive glass and 22-6 in second-chance points.

Can Rutgers make a run in the Big Ten Tournament?

“I didn’t know those numbers, but that’s pretty impressive,” said junior forward Deshawn Freeman, who notched 10 points and eight boards. “Everybody stuck their nose in there and grabbed rebounds.”

The relentless glass-cleaning seemed to stun 11th-seeded Ohio State (17-15), which had edged Rutgers at home Feb. 8. One play summed it up. With seven minutes left, reserve forward Candido Sa beat three better-positioned Buckeyes to an offensive board for a put-back. That gave the Scarlet Knights a 53-48 lead and they never looked back.

“This is how we play,” Sa said. “It was just hard work. We give everything out there on the court.”

Now Rutgers will face sixth-seeded Northwestern (21-10) in the second round Thursday at 9 p.m. The Wildcats swept the Scarlet Knights during the regular season, but both games were decided by single digits.

“They’re on a little bit of mission,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “We’re trying to be on mission ourselves.”

Junior guard Nigel Johnson, who came off the bench, paced Rutgers with 21 points. This is the Scarlet Knights’ first win over Ohio State since 1978 and marks their first two-game winning streak since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

“We wanted to be the first team to get that Big Ten Tournament win,” Johnson said. “Maybe we’re going be the team that’s remembered 10, 20 years down the line. Maybe we’re going to be the team that started it.”

More history: The last time Rutgers won multiple games in a conference tournament was 1998, upending West Virginia and Georgetown before falling to Connecticut in the Big East semifinals.

The Scarlet Knights’ last conference tourney win of any kind came in 2014. They beat South Florida in the American opening round before suffering an epic 92-31 drubbing at the hands of Louisville.

“This just shows that Rutgers is not the same Rutgers that it was the last two years,” junior guard Corey Sanders said. “We’re playing with a lot of confidence and we’re playing hard. It’s a new season for us.”

Ohio State led 32-29 at halftime, but Rutgers opened the second period on a 10-1 run. The Buckeyes hurt their cause by hitting just 15 of 28 free-throw attempts.

In the locker room afterward, talk quickly turned to Northwestern.

“That’s all we wanted, was another day to fight,” Sanders said. “We earned it, and tomorrow we’re going to come here and play with the same intensity.”

Williams, the longest-tenured Scarlet Knight, ended an interview with reporters by saying, “See you tomorrow.”

Then he paused for a moment to realize the significance of that simple phrase.

“Feels good to say that,” he said. “Feels great to say that.”

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.