Battle’s Hot First Half Propels Ohio State Past Rutgers

Jamison Battle and Bruce Thornton combined for 46 points to help the Ohio State Buckeyes past the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Chris Holtmann came out with another close win on Wednesday.

Despite big games from the backcourt duo of sophomore Derek Simpson and senior Noah Fernandes, Ohio State (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) defeated Rutgers 76-72 thanks to hot shooting from sophomore guard Bruce Thornton and senior guard Jamison Battle.

Battle started out hot, hitting three straight 3-pointers early on to put the Buckeyes up in the first half. The Minnesota transfer finished 5-for-7 from beyond the arc in the first half and 17 points.

The Scarlet Knights were unable to stop the Buckeyes from 3-in-man defense. Ohio State finished 9-for-15 from 3-point land in the first half.

Despite a career-high 32 points from Roddy Gayle Jr. in his last game against West Virginia Saturday, the sophomore guard was scoreless at the half but the Buckeyes were up 13.

Gayle finally hit his first shot early in the second half and finished the game with 11 points on 26.7 percent shooting.

Rutgers came out firing in the second half thanks to aggressive takes from Fernandes and Simpson. The Knights continuously rank pick-and-pop offense, where the backcourt led the way with 26 points in the paint and consecutive mid-range jumpers.

The Knights’ backcourt exposed Gayle time and time again on the perimeter and would occasionally call for a high pick-and-roll onto Battle and beat him in the paint.

Ohio State’s sloppy offensive showing early in the second allowed the Knights to creep back up and cut the lead to within 10 for the last 10 minutes of the game.

Gayle went out for a couple of minutes in the second half on what looked to be an ankle injury, but he came back out swiftly.

On the defensive end, Rutgers would blitz screens and recover effectively, forcing the Buckeyes to take bad late-clock shots — they went 2-for-9 from 3 in the second half.

The Buckeyes came out with a close win in Big Ten play behind 24 from Thornton and 22 from Battle.

Ohio State goes on the road to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Hoosiers on Saturday at 8 p.m. from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.