Russell, Loving lead No. 14 Buckeyes, 70-50

By foxsports
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- D'Angelo Russell scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half and Marc Loving added 17 points to lead No. 14 Ohio State to a 70-50 victory over Colgate on Saturday night.

The Buckeyes (6-1) lost at No. 5 Louisville 64-55 in their last outing in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night.

Not until Kam Williams, who chipped in with 11 points, capped an 11-0 surge with a four-point play with 5:03 left did Ohio State finally put the game away.

Ethan Jacobs had 18 points, Damon Sherman-Newsome scored 12 and Austin Tillotson had 11 for Colgate (1-7), which has lost five in a row.

The Buckeyes led 31-21 after an uneven first half in which their lone threat on offense was Loving, who before missing his final 3-pointer was 3 for 3 from the field, 2 for 2 behind the arc and 4 for 4 at the line for 12 points.

Ohio State broke out to a 10-0 lead, then quickly cooled and led just 23-19 before running off the next eight points.

The Raiders wouldn't go away in the second half, however, hanging within 10 points most of the way until Williams' hit a 3-pointer and was fouled, then made the free throw for a 66-46 lead.

The game was the final matchup in the Buckeye Classic, involving five teams playing each other at home sites.

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TIP-INS:

Colgate: The Raiders return four starters and 14 letter winners from a 13-18 club, but they still lost six of seven coming in -- all by seven or fewer points. One culprit was shoddy ball handling; they were averaging four more turnovers a game than they were forcing. Against the Buckeyes they had 15 which led to 19 points.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes went into the Louisville game second in the nation in field-goal percentage at .567, but made just 17 of 56 shots (.333) against the Cardinals. Playing at home against a team that was holding opponents to 44.4 percent shooting from the field, the Buckeyes again struggled to make shots early. They bounced back in the second half to shoot 47 percent for the game (27 of 58).

UP NEXT:

Colgate: The Raiders return home for two games against Morrisville State on Tuesday and Binghamton on Thursday.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes get back in action on Wednesday at home against High Point.