Kyle Young had a career-high 15 points along with 10 rebounds as No. 10 Ohio State took a 28-point halftime lead and cruised past visiting Stetson 86-51 at Value City Arena in Columbus on Monday.
Kaleb Wesson added 13 points and D.J. Carton 10 for the Buckeyes (4-0), who made 45.5 percent of their field goals, going 10-for-27 on 3-pointers (37 percent). Stetson shot 28.1 percent from the floor.
Rob Perry led the Hatters (2-2) with 17 points and eight rebounds. Their largest deficit was 47 points at 77-30 with eight minutes to play.
Ohio State used a 20-0 run and Stetson went nearly 15 minutes without a made field goal as the Buckeyes raced to a 42-14 lead at the half.
Stetson missed 19 straight shots and shot 14.3 percent (4-for-28) from the floor in the first half.
The Buckeyes played as a top-10 team for the first time this season, moving up from No. 16 as a result of their 76-51 win over previously 10th-ranked Villanova on Wednesday.
It should have come as no surprise that the Buckeyes would come out strong considering they had a 19-3 start on Villanova.
They put the first eight points on the board against the Hatters before Christiaan Jones canned a 3-pointer to make it 8-3.
The Buckeyes extended the margin to 28-3 before Perry made a free throw with 5:57 left. Jones ended the field-goal drought of 14:27 on a jumper with 2:10 to go.
Ohio State led by as many as 34 heading into halftime before Perry hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The Buckeyes welcomed the return of senior forward Andre Wesson, who missed the past two games because of a fractured eye socket caused by inadvertent elbow from teammate C.J. Walker in the season opener vs. Cincinnati.
He had six points in 21 minutes.
Both Stetson and Ohio State return to action on Friday. The Hatters play Iona in Orlando, Fla., while the Buckeyes host Purdue Fort Wayne.
--Field Level Media
Stetson | Ohio St. | |
Rob Perry 17 | Scoring | Kyle Young 15 |
Jahlil Rawley 2 | Assists | D.J. Carton 5 |
Rob Perry 8 | Rebounds | Kyle Young 10 |
Mahamadou Diawara 5 | Free Throws Made | Kaleb Wesson 7 |
Jahlil Rawley 3 | Steals | D.J. Carton 1 |
Jahlil Rawley 1 | Blocks | E.J. Liddell 4 |