Bruce Thornton scores career-high 38 as Ohio State bests Purdue Fort Wayne

Bruce Thornton scored a career-high 38 points to lead host Ohio State to a 94-68 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne in Columbus on Friday.

Thornton made 14 of 17 field goals, was 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and hit all five free throws to break his previous best of 33 vs. Indiana State last Dec. 29. The senior guard also had five rebounds and five assists and scored 19 points in each half.

John Mobley Jr. tied his career best with five 3-pointers among his 19 points, and Christoph Tilly had 15 points for the Buckeyes (2-0).

Mikale Stevenson scored a career-high 21, and DeAndre Craig Jr. contributed 18 points for the Mastodons (0-2). Stevenson had 20 against College of Biblical Studies on Dec. 20 of last season.

The Buckeyes were coming off setting a program record for points in a season opener in a 118-102 win over Indiana University Indianapolis on Monday, in which they were long on offense and short on defense.

Ohio State got off to an eerily similar start as the opener when the Buckeyes made their first eight field-goal attempts, including five 3-pointers, and carried an early 22-15 advantage.

This time, the Buckeyes raced to a 17-4 lead by making all seven field goals, including three from behind the arc.

Thornton, named earlier this week as the first four-time captain in 127 years of the program, hit his first five shots, two of them triples, for 12 points midway through the first half.

He scored the Buckeyes' last seven points of the first half for a 45-30 lead, which increased to 17 in the first three minutes of the second half before the Mastodons showed their resiliency again.

The Mastodons cut the deficit to 57-50, just as they trailed by 22 at halftime at Grand Canyon before making it a nine-point game only to lose 90-71 in their opener.

But Purdue Fort Wayne could get no closer to the Buckeyes, and Thornton's 3-pointer with seven minutes left made it 78-57.

--Field Level Media