John Mobley Jr. scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half to lead five Ohio State players in double figures in a 89-63 win over Grambling State on Tuesday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio.
Bruce Thornton scored 18, Devin Royal 16 and Amare Bynum had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Christoph Tilly added 10 points for the Buckeyes (9-3).
Antonio Munoz led the Tigers (5-7) with 19 points and Derrius Ward had 12. Jamil Muttilib and Jimel Lane had 10 points each.
Ohio State took its biggest lead to that point on a Thornton basket, 54-34, at 15:18 of the second half. Grambling State pulled to within 56-44 about three minutes later.
Mobley then came out of a timeout and drilled a pair of 3-pointers 33 seconds apart and the Buckeyes were off. Mobley finished a 14-0 run with another triple to make it 70-44 and put the game away. Ohio State outscored Grambling 50-39 in the second half.
The Buckeyes also finished the first half with a fury, knocking down their final six shots after the Tigers kept the game competitive for the first 15 minutes.
Each team had their stretches of domination, but unfortunately for Grambling State, Ohio State had more.
The Tigers led 5-4 after nearly four minutes before Ohio State reeled off 10- straight points while the visitors missed all six shots. Grambling then scored five unanswered before Bynum created space and sank a 3-pointer to make 17-12.
Later, Colin White came off the bench to cap an 8-0 streak with a layup to make it 31-18.
Those were the only points of the first half for the Ohio State reserves, a sore point for coach Jake Diebler after the Buckeyes got zero points off the bench in a 71-70 loss to No. 12 North Carolina on Saturday.
Part of the reason was the freshman Bynum made his first career start against the Tar Heels and contributed 11 points and six rebounds.
Because of the blowout, the starters came out early and the Buckeyes finished with 13 bench points.
After White’s bucket, Muttilib made a 3-pointer for Grambling, but Bynum was on the receiving end of a lob by Thornton for the slam to make it 33-21.
