COLUMBUS, Ohio _ In a game littered with youthful mistakes, CJ Walker had a chance to make another.
No. 10 Ohio State was ahead handily against Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday night at Value City Arena when the junior guard ripped the ball from Jarred Godfrey and quickly pushed it upcourt in transition. Finding multiple Mastodons in his way, he pulled it out and eventually fed teammate Kyle Young on the block.
Young drew the defense in just enough before kicking it back out to Walker, who buried a 3-pointer that forced the visitors to call timeout. It was his second straight 3, it gave the Buckeyes a 27-point lead with 16:22 to play and it was a just reward for the veteran who helped steady things in what would become an 85-46 win.
Just like in their prior two games, the Buckeyes (5-0) never trailed against the Mastodons (2-5). And before the first half had reached its midpoint, the game largely felt well in hand. It was a 16-0 Ohio State run that produced the breathing room, pushing the lead to 25-7 with 9:25 to play when Duane Washington Jr. hit a 3-pointer.
At that point, Purdue Fort Wayne had missed 14 of its last 15 shots. It would miss its next one, too, but reserve center Cameron Benford's put-back rolled around and through to break a scoring drought that lasted 7:29.
The lead would reach 21 points before halftime, but the Buckeyes didn't show the same level of sharpness primarily displayed during their first four games. By the break, the Buckeyes had taken 16 of their 33 shots from 3-point range and made just three of them, several coming early in the shot clock. Twice, coach Chris Holtmann immediately yanked a player for a mistake, trying to hammer his points home.
And yet it was a 42-25 halftime lead for Ohio State, which had outscored Purdue Fort Wayne 22-8 in the paint and had five players make at least two field goals. And it grew in the opening minutes of the second half, when the Buckeyes hit five straight jumpers to remove all doubt. Kaleb Wesson hit consecutive 3s after missing all four such first-half attempts before Walker hit a 3, another jumper and then the 3 from Young to cap an 11-0 run.
The blowout allowed Holtmann to again empty his bench early, inserting senior walk-on Danny Hummer into the game with 7:57 to play, and the Upper Arlington product went on to hit his first career 3-pointer.
Ohio State now has started the season 5-0 in consecutive years. It has not trailed since an Alonzo Gaffney 3-pointer made it a 12-10 lead against UMass Lowell with 13:04 left in the first half of the second game of the season.
