Freshman guard JaQuan Lyle had 16 points, a career-high 12 rebounds and 11 assists and Ohio State used a big second half to beat Rutgers 94-68 on Wednesday night.
Five other Buckeyes were in double figures for the (12-6, 4-1 Big Ten), Keita Bates-Diop, Je-Sean Tate and Kam Williams had 14, Marc Loving 12 and Trevor Thompson 11.
Corey Sanders had 20 points, 17 in the first half, when the Scarlet Knights (6-12, 0-5) took a 41-39 lead. The Buckeyes outscored them 55-27 in the second half.
Ohio State opened the second half with a 13-0 run in the first four minutes to go up 52-41 lead.
Tate started the rally with a pair field goals and Thompson followed with consecutive dunks. Loving hit a 3-pointer and Lyle made two free throws before Bishop Daniels responded with a layup for Rutgers to end the streak.
Sanders had the Scarlet Knights’ first seven points before two minutes had elapsed to match Ohio State’s output. Sanders, averaging 13.3 points for his freshman season, was 6 for 8 from the floor, including 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, in the first half.
Lyle had a double-double with more than three minutes left and went into the locker room with 11 points and his 10 rebounds were two more than his previous best.
The Buckeyes trailed 27-26 but went more than four minutes without a point, enabling the Scarlet Knights to take a 33-26 lead. Rutgers’ largest lead was 37-29 before the Buckeyes closed on a 10-4 run.
Both teams came off of resounding defeats. Rutgers lost 90-56 to Nebraska on Saturday. The next day Indiana beat the visiting Buckeyes 85-60.
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