Jamison Battle and Roddy Gayle Jr. led five Ohio State players in double figures with 13 points each when the Buckeyes routed Western Michigan 73-56 in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday.
Gayle, who made 6 of 9 field goals, also grabbed eight rebounds. Bruce Thornton had 12 points while Dale Bonner and Zed Key scored 11 apiece and Felix Okpara contributed 11 rebounds and four blocks for the Buckeyes (3-1).
Ohio State’s largest lead was 68-37 with 9:39 to play before the Broncos (0-4) ran off 10 points in a row.
Seth Hubbard scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half for Western Michigan, which shot 37.1 percent from the floor.
Ohio State held a 41-21 halftime lead.
Western Michigan was within striking distance early but got blitzed by a 14-0 run that turned the game into a runaway.
It was 16-9 in favor of the Buckeyes when they got hot, and the Broncos couldn’t hit a bucket. A Key 3-pointer started the streak for the Buckeyes and Bonner followed with a trey. After a jumper by Scotty Middleton, the Buckeyes got back-to-back 3’s from Bonner and Thornton to increase the lead to 30-9 at the 9:21 mark.
The run ended when Hubbard, who last game led the Broncos with 17 points in a 63-59 loss to Northwestern, scored his first two points with a mid-range jumper.
The largest lead of the half was 23, 41-18, on a pair of Key free throws with 1:53 left.
The game was the first for both teams in the Emerald Coast Classic which concludes next week in Destin, Fla. The Buckeyes will play Alabama on Friday and either Oregon or Santa Clara on Saturday. Western Michigan goes against Southeastern Louisiana on Friday and either Mercer or Tennessee State on Saturday.
–Field Level Media