Swingman Evan Turner injured as No. 15 Ohio State beats Eastern Michigan 111-60

Turner hurt as No. 15 Buckeyes roll vs E. Michigan

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jon Diebler scored 21 points and No. 15 Ohio State beat Eastern Michigan 111-60 on Saturday after losing star player Evan Turner, who hurt his back in an awkward fall.

Turner, one of the nation’s top all-around players who came in averaging 20.6 points and 12.9 rebounds, was fouled on a dunk attempt, held onto the rim too long and landed on his back out of bounds in the first half. X-rays came back negative and he was expected to be OK.

The Buckeyes (7-1) scored at least 110 points for the second time in eight days, and the total against Eastern matched the ninth-most in program history.

P.J. Hill had a career-high 18 points, Jeremie Simmons had 17 and William Buford and David Lighty each had 16 for the Buckeyes (7-1), who won their fifth in a row since a 76-73 loss to then-No. 6 North Carolina in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic on Nov. 19.

Buford had a career-high 10 assists and Lighty tied a career best with four steals.

Brandon Bowdry scored 24 points and Carlos Medlock 13 for Eastern (5-3), which had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Turner was injured with Ohio State leading 15-5 and 13:27 to go in the first half. He lay on the floor for a couple of minutes, attended by medical personnel, before slowly limping to the locker room. He was later transported to the Ohio State University Medical Center. Coach Thad Matta said X-rarys were negative and he was optimistic that Turner would be OK.

After Turner fell to the floor, a crowd of 12,135 fell silent.

Buford came into the game shooting just 34 percent from the field, including an ugly 1-for-12 showing in Wednesday’s 77-64 win over No. 21 Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. But he hit 5 of 11 shots from the field, including half of his six 3-point attempts.

The Buckeyes made 16 of 29 3-pointers (55 percent) and shot 63 percent from the field.

Diebler had 15 points and Hill matched his career high with 13 in the first half. In addition, Buford surpassed his career best in assists with six in the first 20 minutes.

Ohio State scored 12 of the first 14 points and never trailed, leading 62-25 at the break.

At halftime, a ceremony honoring Ohio State’s football team winning its fifth straight Big Ten football title turned into a singalong. After the three captains spoke to the crowd — each guaranteeing a win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl — and AD Gene Smith presented the Big Ten championship trophy, the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Jim Tressel. The coach turned 57.

It was only the second meeting between the two schools, the Buckeyes also beating Eastern Michigan 58-54 on Dec. 28, 1982, in Columbus.