No. 7 Ohio St. rolls to 40-point victory

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Columbus, Ohio • Deshaun Thomas scored all but one of his 22 points in the first half and No. 7 Ohio State showed its firepower inside and out in beating Savannah State 85-45 on Wednesday night.

LaQuinton Ross added 13 points, Shannon Scott had 12 and Evan Ravenel 11 for the Buckeyes (7-1), who are three games into an eight-game homestand that will carry them all the way through the Big Ten opener against Nebraska on Jan. 2.

Arnold Louis led Savannah State (5-5) with 14 points.

The Tigers came in relying on their stingy defense. They were allowing only 53.0 points a game, with their opponents shooting 37.1 percent from the field.

But the Buckeyes, averaging 78 points, dominated at both ends and scored in transition to pile up a big lead. They hit 10 of 19 shots behind the arc while shooting 48 percent from the field for the game.

The Buckeyes made 7 of 10 3-pointers in the opening half to pull away to an 18-point lead. Thomas led the way, hitting 4 of 6 while scoring an almost effortless 21 points — three more than the Tigers accumulated in the half.

At one point, the Buckeyes had a 15-1 advantage on the boards.

Ahead 5-4, Ohio State held Savannah State without a point for more than 5 minutes while running off nine points in a row.