No. 8 Ohio State 63, American 52: Amir Williams scored a career-high 16 points and Shannon Scott added 13 as the Buckeyes held on for a hard-fought home victory over the Eagles.

Four of the Buckeyes' top five scorers on the season - Sam Thompson, Lenzelle Smith Jr., Aaron Craft and LaQuinton Ross - combined for just 22 points on 6-of-26 shooting. Fortunately for Ohio State, Scott - the team's second-leading scorer on the year - rose to the occasion and Williams delivered an offensive performance that nobody saw coming.

American (1-2) shot a respectable 45.7 percent from the field and was only outrebounded by three, but the difference was that Ohio State (4-0) forced 27 turnovers, including 15 steals. Jesse Reed led the Eagles with 15 points, while Tony Wroblicky had 14.

The Buckeyes scored 11 of the final 14 points of the first half, capped by Craft's layup at the buzzer, to take a 28-23 lead into the break. Ohio State shot just 7-of-27 in the first half and was led by eight points from Williams, who entered the contest with only two career double-digit scoring efforts.

Less than four minutes into the second half, Williams made a jumper to give Ohio State its first double-digit lead at 37-27. The Buckeyes led by as many as 16 in the second half and held on for the win despite shooting 35.7 percent from the field, including 3-of-16 from beyond the arc, and committing 14 turnovers compared to just 10 assists.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The two highest scoring outputs of Williams' career came last season against Northwestern (10 points) and earlier this month against Ohio (14 points). ... Craft had seven steals and Scott had three swipes. ... Scott also had a team-high nine rebounds, narrowly missing his second double-double of the season.