Devin Royal had a career-high 22 points and Bruce Thornton added 22 points of his own as Ohio State continued its home dominance over Rutgers with an 80-66 victory at Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday.
The Buckeyes (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) improved to 14-5 against the Scarlet Knights thanks to a 9-0 record at home.
Micah Parrish added 12 points for the Buckeyes, who responded to an 83-59 blowout loss at Maryland on Wednesday when a late surge masked the fact that Ohio State trailed 63-23 five minutes into the second half.
Dylan Harper scored 18 and Ace Bailey chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds for Rutgers (5-4, 0-1).
Royal’s basket with 9:25 to play for a 61-53 lead broke his previous high of 20 points on Nov. 19 against Evansville.
Rutgers’ deficit reached 10 points at 63-53 with 9 minutes remaining and the Buckeyes went up 68-56 on a dunk by Austin Parks with 4:38 remaining.
The Scarlet Knights were averaging 81.4 points per game after they never averaged more than 69 a game in the previous eight seasons for coach Steve Pikiell.
Rutgers features two of the top freshmen in the country. Harper entered leading the Big Ten and was fourth nationally in scoring at 23.8 points, while Bailey checked in with an 18.8 average. Yet Ohio State held a 39-31 halftime by limiting Harper to four points and Bailey two on a combined 2 of 10 from the field.
There were four ties within the opening 10 minutes, the last at 20-20 after the Buckeyes were outscored 50-17 in the first half vs. Maryland.
The Buckeyes ran off seven points in a row to go ahead 31-23 when the Scarlet Knights went four minutes without scoring.
After Rutgers pulled to within 31-29, the Buckeyes reeled off eight straight points until Harper’s steal and layup with 12 seconds left in the half.
— Field Level Media
