Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons at Ohio State Buckeyes

Second-half burst helps Buckeyes rout Purdue Fort Wayne

Jackson sparked it for Ohio State.

With the Buckeyes leading by just seven points at the intermission, he drained a trio of 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half. It wasn't much of a contest from then on as Ohio State clamped down on defense and the Summit Conference team wilted.

Duane Washington Jr. scored 20 and Jaedon Ledee had 16 points on 12-of-14 free-throw shooting as Ohio State won for the second time in five days. The Buckeyes beat Cincinnati on the road Wednesday.

John Konchar and Kason Harrell each had 13 for the Mastodons (0-2), who shot just 34 percent from the field. They shot 30 percent in the second half as Ohio State smothered them on defense and the game got out of hand.

Ohio State led 41-34 at the end of the first half on the strength of a pair of late 3-pointers hit 23 seconds apart by Washington. Konchar hit a layup on a fast break as time ran out in the half to keep the deficit at seven points.

"We just weren't making smart decisions defensively, and that kind of led to bad offense," Jackson said. "We got a couple of silly turnovers in the first half, and that kind of slowed us down a little bit. We weren't making as many shots. Later we started being a little smarter with the ball, knocking down those same shots we were taking earlier."

The Buckeyes cleaned it up in the second half, putting up the team's highest point total in nearly two years, then sang "Happy Birthday" to Holtmann in the locker room afterward.

RAINING 3-POINTERS

The Buckeyes were 15 for 28 from beyond the arc, a 54-percent success rate. The parade was led by Washington, who hit 6 of 9, and Jackson, who was 4 for 7.

It was Ohio State's best day from the 3-point line since making 17 of 29 attempts against Maryland in January.

Washington's six 3-pointers tied a school record for a freshman. D'Angelo Russell did it in 2015.

BIG PICTURE

Purdue Fort Wayne: The scrappy Mastodons managed to hang in there until Jackson started raining 3s and the Buckeyes pulled away.

QUOTABLE

TOO EARLY TO TELL

Holtmann said even though his freshmen have been a major presence early, he doesn't know yet exactly what he's got.

"It's way too early in the season to have any real idea where we're at or make any statement about where we're at or where another team we play is at," he said. "We're just trying to get better with every day in practice that's in front of us."

UP NEXT

Purdue Fort Wayne: Hosts Manchester on Tuesday.

Ohio State: At Creighton Thursday night.

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Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy

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