Brice Sensabaugh scored 15 points off the bench and No. 25 Ohio State used a dominant second half to post a 96-59 victory over visiting St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
Bruce Thornton scored 13 points, Roddy Gayle Jr. chipped in 12, Zed Key added 11 and Sean McNeil and Felix Okpara each had 10 points for the Buckeyes (6-2), who outscored the Red Flash 52-23 over the final 20 minutes.
Josh Cohen had 18 points for the Red Flash (2-7), who have lost three straight games. Cam Gregory scored 15 points and Maxwell Land added 14.
Ohio State led 44-36 at halftime. The Red Flash scored the first two points of the second half but that was as close as it would get.
McNeil made two buckets and Thornton drained a 3-pointer to push the Buckeyes’ advantage to 13 points.
The lead expanded to 73-47 with a 14-0 run over a 4:18 stretch. Landon Moore ended the skid with two free throws at the 8:40 mark.
The Buckeyes had excuses for a sluggish start of the game. They went 2-1 in the Maui Invitational with a win over ranked Texas Tech then lost 81-72 at No. 17 Duke on Wednesday. Throw in a noon start local time against St. Francis and it would have been easy for them to sleepwalk through the first half.
Instead, Ohio State went on an 8-0 run to take a 27-11 lead on a pair of free throws by Tanner Holden just eight minutes into the game.
But St. Francis chipped away at the deficit and pulled to within 38-31 on a Cohen jumper as part of his 12-point first half. Land also had 12 points by the break as the Red Flash shot 55.2 percent from the floor while the Buckeyes made 51.6 percent.
It was no surprise that Cohen and Land, a Cincinnati native, would lead the way. Cohen entered averaging 20.4 points and Land 13.0.
— Field Level Media