Russell leads No. 20 Ohio State in rout of Sacred Heart

Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - D'Angelo Russell scored a career-high 32 points to lead No. 20 Ohio State to a 106-48 rout of Sacred Heart on Sunday.

Russell shot 12-for-21, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range, Shannon Scott had 11 points and a school-record 16 assists and Sam Thompson and Jae'Sean Tate each chipped in 12 points for the Buckeyes (3-0), who were coming off a 74-63 win over Marquette.

"D'Angelo got rolling, and his shot selection was great," Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta said. "We want him to be aggressive and we want him to score. I thought throughout the flow of the offense he found shots that were good for him. He's a heck of a basketball player."

Filip Nowicki finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Pioneers (1-2), who lost their second straight game.

"We were a little overwhelmed," Pioneers head coach Anthony Latina said. "I thought we had a couple easy baskets early that we missed and I thought if we made them early we could've hung around a little bit longer but the reality is we weren't going to win this game."

Thompson had back-to-back dunks as Ohio State roared out of the gate with an 11-3 lead.

Marc Loving's trey to cap 7-0 run ran the Buckeyes' lead to 23 points and Thompson's dunk with a second remaining in the first half pushed Ohio State's advantage to 52-27 heading into the break.

Russell drained consecutive triples for a 71-33 lead as the Buckeyes got off to another quick start with a 19-6 burst nearly five minutes into the second half.

Ohio State's lead swelled to 61 points down the stretch.

Game Notes

Aaron Craft previously held Ohio State's single-game assist record with 15 against George Mason on Mar. 20, 2011 ... The Buckeyes are now 11-0 against Northeast Conference opponents ... Ohio State improved to 91-8 at home since the beginning of the 2009-10 season ... Sacred Heart dropped to 0-12 all-time against ranked opponents ... It was the first meeting between the two programs.