Royal's career-high double-double effort sends Ohio State hurtling past Valpo 95-73

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Devin Royal scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and Ohio State throttled Valparaiso 95-73 on Tuesday night.

Royal was 11-for-16 shooting making only 1 of 4 attempts from beyond the arc and 8 of 9 foul shots. He reached his previous scoring high just 10 days ago, registering 22 against Rutgers. He accomplished his prior rebounding high snaring 12 against Evansville on Nov. 19.

Reserve Evan Mahaffey made all six of his shot attempts and scored 15 points and Micah Parrish and Bruce Thornton scored 14 points apiece. Ohio State played without Meechie Johnson, who is on a personal leave of absence.

Despite making just 6 of 19 (31.6%) from 3-point range, the Buckeyes (7-4) shot 33 of 61 (54.1%) overall.

Wright scored 22 points for Valparaiso and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro and Cooper Schwieger each added 16 apiece. The Beacons (5-5) managed just 35.8% (24 of 67) shooting.

John Mobley Jr.'s 3-pointer with 11:31 left before halftime gave Ohio State a 16-14 lead, Parrish followed with layup and Mobley added another 3 and the Buckeyes never trailed again. Royal made two foul shots with 6:17 left before halftime for Ohio State's first double-digit lead (26-16).

Devon Ellis' layup brought the Beacons within 29-24, but Ohio State outscored Valpo 12-6 over the last three minutes of the first half and were up 41-30 at halftime. Ohio State is now 7-1 when leading at intermission.

Ohio State led by double digits for the remainder at the 16:54 mark. Sean Stewart's layup with 5 1/2 minutes left made it 84-54.

Valpo travels to Western Michigan on Friday. Ohio State hosts No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday.