Junior forward E.J. Liddell scored a career-high 29 points as No. 17 Ohio State pulled away from Niagara for an 84-74 victory on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
Liddell had 18 points as the Buckeyes (2-0) took a 42-41 halftime lead. For the game, he also contributed five rebounds and four blocks while making 9 of 15 field goals and 8 of 12 free throws.
Zed Key added 11 points and Justice Sueing 10 for Ohio State.
Marcus Hammond led the Purple Eagles (0-2) with 22 points, 16 in the first half, in the first meeting between the schools. Sam Iorio chipped in with 18 points and Jordan Cintron had 17.
The Buckeyes opened the second half with a 20-10 stretch for a 62-51 lead and increased it to their biggest gap, 74-62, on a dunk by Malaki Branham with 4:38 to play.
Niagara didn’t wilt, pulling within 77-71 with 1:42 to play before Liddell made two free throws with 50 seconds left. The second of those foul shots broke his personal best of 26 points, set against Illinois on Jan. 16.
The game marked a homecoming for Niagara coach Greg Paulus, who was on the Ohio State staff under Thad Matta from 2011-17.
Ohio State guard Cedric Russell was unavailable because of a death in the family. However, forward Kyle Young, who missed the season opener against Akron on Tuesday while recovering from a vestibular dysfunction, played. Young scored five points.
This is the second of five straight games in Ohio to start the season for Niagara, which lost 63-60 to Xavier in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
The Purple Eagles have three games at Youngstown State as part of a multi-team event: Nov. 20 vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, St. Thomas-Minnesota on Nov. 21 and Youngstown State the next day.
The Buckeyes play host to Bowling Green on Monday.
–Field Level Media
