No. 23 Ohio State 76, Northwestern 60: LaQuinton Ross led the way with 16 points as the Buckeyes pulled away early in the second half and coasted past the visiting Wildcats.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. added 14 points and 10 rebounds while Aaron Craft collected 14 points and four steals for Ohio State (21-6, 8-6 Big Ten), which has won five of its last six. Sam Thompson went 4-of-5 from the field en route to 11 points for the Buckeyes.

Drew Crawford scored 22 points to lead Northwestern (12-15, 5-9), which has dropped four straight. Tre Demps added 14 points off the bench for the Wildcats.

Northwestern trailed 37-33 at the half but missed its first three shots and turned the ball over twice to open the second half while Ohio State turned that into a 9-0 run. Ross’ 3-pointer just under six minutes into the period spread the lead to 56-37, and the Buckeyes would make it a 21-point gap midway through half.

The Wildcats got it back down to 66-50 before Nikola Cerina and Ross got tangled up and each was hit with technical and personal fouls. Ohio State hit each of its four ensuing free-throw attempts and Smith’s 3-pointer just over 30 seconds later kept the lead at 20 points as the Buckeyes put it away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Buckeyes have taken nine straight in the series. … Crawford went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, but the rest of the Wildcats knocked down just 1-of-14. … Northwestern G JerShon Cobb was held to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, snapping a string of five straight games in double figures.