COLUMBUS – Columbus natives Stevie Taylor and Nick Kellogg combined for 42 points but 10th-ranked Ohio State overcame Ohio, 79-69, by cashing in a school-record 38 times at the foul line Tuesday night at Value City Arena.

Ohio State (2-0) scored the game’s first nine points and led the entire way. Ohio got as close as five on a Maurice Ndour putback with 4:03 remaining, but the Buckeyes closed out the game at the foul line.

Five Ohio forwards fouled out and the Buckeyes went to the foul line 51 times.

Taylor and Kellogg each scored 21 points. Ndour had 10 points and nine rebounds.

"Obviously growing up in Columbus and my pops being who he is, I guess this is home," Kellogg said. "But at the end of the day, I prefer Athens. But it was nice to come back to Columbus and play here. It's the first time I've played here in college, so, yeah, it's home.

Aaron Craft hit 14 of 18 free throws and led Ohio State with 18 points. Amir Williams posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Williams followed Ndour’s last basket with second-chance points for the Buckeyes on a tip-in. Craft drew Ndour’s fifth foul and hit both free throws to extend Ohio State’s lead to 69-60 with 3:17 remaining. Ohio (1-1) got no closer than seven the rest of the way.

Only two minutes into the game, the Buckeyes led 9-0. Ohio’s defense settled in before the offense finally got on the board at the 14:29 mark on a Taylor jump shot.

"I think we were tentative in the first six or seven minutes of the game," Ohio coach Christian said. "We were worried about getting back on defense that we didn't attack the glass. But we did in the second half."

Free throws by Sam Thompson midway through the half gave Ohio State its biggest lead, 24-7. Ohio closed its deficit to 10 on a Nick Kellogg layup but a Williams tip-in at the end of the first half made it 40-28 in favor of the Buckeyes.

Ohio State’s biggest lead of the second half was 54-38 on a pair of Thomspon free throws at the 14:37 mark.

With Ohio State leading by 14 with seven minutes remaining, Ohio made a push, beginning with a Taylor 3-pointer. After a Williams free throw, Ricardo Johnson converted a three-point play following an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to single digits.

Kellogg followed a Mark Loving jumper with a layup, and after a missed shot by Craft, Taylor beat the defense back and finished a three-point play to make it 64-58 with 5:07 remaining. Craft added a foul shot by the Buckeyes before Ndour’s follow got the Bobcats as close as five.

"We got more stops (in the second half)," Christian said. "We played harder and got easier stops. There isn't a better team defensively in the country [than Ohio State], especially on the perimeter. That's why we wanted to play them because they exposed some things that we need to fix and we showed things that we did well."

Ohio shot 44.4 percent from the floor and made 16 of 21 free throws. Ohio State shot 40.9 percent and had fewer turnovers, 14-9.

T.J. Hall played only seven minutes before picking up his fifth foul, while Treg Setty fouled out in only 11 minutes of action. Jon Smith, Johnson and Ndour also were disqualified by fouls.

Craft was the only Ohio State player to be charged with more than three fouls.

Thompson scored 12 points, LaQuinton Ross finished with 10, Smith Jr. scored nine and Scott had eight in a balanced effort for the Buckeyes.

"We talked about playing solid and doing what the coaches wanted us to do and I think we did that," Taylor said. "But we are not satisfied with our performance tonight. We have to get back to practice and go even harder. I think this is going to fuel us to have a great season."

Ohio hosts Valparaiso at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Convo.