Youngstown St. Penguins vs Ohio St. Buckeyes Match Player Stats On Dec 18, 2018

Kaleb Wesson scored 26 of his career-high 31 points in the second half, and No. 15 Ohio State overcame a sluggish start to defeat visiting Youngstown State 75-56 on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes (10-1) fell behind by 12 in the first half and trailed by three at halftime but outscored the Penguins 53-31 over the final 20 minutes.

Luther Muhammad and C.J. Jackson each added 11 points for Ohio State.

Darius Quisenberry scored 17 and Naz Bohannon had 11 for the Penguins (4-9).

Wesson made all of his eight field-goal attempts in the second half and was 10 of 14 from the floor in the game. His previous best output was 22 points vs. Bucknell on Saturday.

The Buckeyes hit 19 of 27 field goals (70.4 percent) in the second half.

Ohio State trailed 27-24 when Wesson picked up his third foul with 18:16 left in the game. He had five points at the time. Coach Chris Holtmann was rewarded for keeping his sophomore center in the game.

Wesson made a conventional three-point play for the first tie, 27-27, at 17:35 and followed with a rebound bucket for the first Ohio State lead at 29-27. He extended it to 31-27 off an assist by Keyshawn Woods, then Woods drained a 3-pointer to make it 34-27 for a 10-0 run.

Ohio State reached its first double-digit lead off a 3-pointer by C.J. Jackson at 12:39 to make it 43-32.

The Penguins stunned the Buckeyes by scoring the first nine points, five by Bohannon. After Wesson put Ohio State on the board at the 15:15 mark with a basket -- the first in 10 tries for the Buckeyes -- Youngstown State reeled off five more points for a 14-2 lead with 13:53 to go.

Jackson made Ohio State's only 3-pointer in 11 attempts in the first half with nine seconds to go to pull the hosts within 25-22.

The Buckeyes play UCLA at the United Center in Chicago as part of the CBSSports Classic on Saturday. Youngstown State hosts Detroit Mercy on Dec. 28 in a Horizon League game.

--Field Level Media