Written by David Regimbal

---

After playing two straight games against slow-paced opponents, Ohio State finally had a chance to stretch its legs against the up-tempo UNC-Asheville Bulldogs.

The Buckeyes fell one point of tying their season high, beating the Bulldogs 90-72 on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Thompson, surprisingly, led Ohio State with a career-high 18 points from five of seven shooting. Thompson was among four Buckeyes players to score in double digits as Deshaun Thomas chipped in 17, Lenzelle Smith, Jr. scored 16 and Evan Ravenel tied a career-best with 12 points.

"We watched film a lot on them the past couple of days and we noticed that they didn't stop the ball particularly well," Thompson said. "We knew that if we could get stops, we knew we could push the ball up the floor and could get to the rim and create for ourselves and other people. We definitely tried to capitalize on that."

Ohio State (8-1) shot 59 percent from the floor while holding UNC-Asheville to just 42 percent shooting. The Buckeyes did a good job defensively, but Keith Hornsby exploded, scoring a career-high 26 points from nine of 12 shooting.

"Honestly, he's a good player," Smith said after the game. “He came in here rolling. You've got a guy like that with a hot hand, you don't contain him early in the game it's always going to be tougher."

The Buckeyes will get another tune-up game against Winthrop on Tuesday before hosting the Kansas Jayhawks this Saturday.

Follow @davidreg412