Thomas scores 24 in OSU debut

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Deshaun Thomas always tells his teammates that he’s going to come out shooting.

In his college debut, that’s precisely what he did.

Thomas stole the spotlight by coming off the bench to score 24 points to lead No. 4 Ohio State to a 102-61 victory over North Carolina A&T on Friday night in the Global Sports Invitational.

Within seconds after entering the game, the Indiana prep scoring champ swished a 3-pointer from the right corner.

“Once I made that, the lights were on,” he said with a broad smile.

The Buckeyes have four starters back from last season’s 29-8 Big Ten regular-season and tournament champion that made it to the NCAA round of 16. But the missing starter is Evan Turner, the consensus national player of the year now with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Ohio State’s most acclaimed recruit, Jared Sullinger, had 19 points and 14 rebounds, while fellow freshman Aaron Craft added eight points and nine assists.

Sullinger termed it a successful night.

“We won,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do right now, winning games and getting better toward March.”

Marc Hill and Nic Simpson each had 14 points for the Aggies, who were outrebounded by a remarkable 60-22 margin.

“It’s really, really fortunate we didn’t get beat by 100,” A&T coach Jerry Eaves said. “You get outrebounded 60-22, it could have been really ugly.”

Among the Ohio State veterans, Dallas Lauderdale had 12 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots, William Buford had 11 points and David Lighty 10.

Ahead 52-25 at halftime, the Buckeyes ran off the first 12 points of the second half while holding the Aggies scoreless for more than four minutes.