William Buford scores 18 points, No. 18 Ohio State beats Delaware State 60-44

No. 18 Ohio State tops Delaware State 60-44

COLUMBUS, Ohio — William Buford scored 18 points and carried the load in the second half to lead No. 18 Ohio State past Delaware State 60-44 on Saturday.

David Lighty added 12 points and Dallas Lauderdale had 11 for the Buckeyes (9-2), who shot 60 percent from the field.

Frisco Sandidge had 13 points for the Hornets (4-5), who lost their fourth in a row.

Ahead 25-17 at the half, the Buckeyes slowly pulled away.

The Buckeyes are still finding their way without Evan Turner, their leader in scoring (18.5), rebounds (11.4) and assists (6 per game). He broke two bones in his lower back on Dec. 5 and is hoping to be back by the Jan. 9 game at Minnesota, although doctors first predicted he wouldn’t return until early February.

Lauderdale’s dunk off an assist from Lighty gave the Buckeyes their first double-digit lead at 32-21 with 16:42 left. They maintained it for the next 10 minutes before Buford scored seven Ohio State points in a row and then came up with a loose ball and fed Jon Diebler for a 3-pointer from the left corner that pushed the lead to 50-36 with 5:16 remaining.

The Buckeyes stretched the lead to 17 on Buford’s jumper, Lighty’s driving layup and two foul shots by P.J. Hill. Delaware State never got closer than 14 points again.

Despite trailing for most of the game, the Hornets set the pace. They waited on players to get open backdoor and were content to work the ball around the perimeter. As evidence, they were called for five shot-clock violations.

There was a glacial pace to the opening half with the Hornets patiently running their picking, passing game and waiting to shoot until late in the clock.

The Buckeyes tried to get out and run but had eight turnovers.

Jeremie Simmons sparked Ohio State, coming off the bench to get seven points with three steals and two assists. It was his back-to-back 3-pointers which turned a 7-5 Delaware State lead into a 11-7 advantage for the Buckeyes.

It was the lowest output of the season for Ohio State, which came into the game 10th nationally in scoring (84.7 points per game).

The Buckeyes defeated the Hornets a year ago, 70-42.