COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ben Howlett-era of IU Indianapolis men's basketball opened up as promised on Monday night (Nov. 3) with the system producing a fast paced, frenetic tempo on the road at Ohio State inside Value City Arena. Ohio State shot 63 percent overall and put four players in double-digits on way to a 118-102 victory. 

Sophomore Kameron Tinsley led five Jaguars in double-digits with 22 points of the bench and junior Kyler D'Augustino closed with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Jaxon Edwards finished with 13 points and JP Dragas came off the bench to contribute 11 points. Fifth-year senior Matt Compas closed with 10 points and three steals. 

"I give my team a lot of credit," head coach Ben Howlett said. "This isn't the finished product. We're going to continue to get better. One of the main signs of the system is you get better throughout the year, so this one's tough. 

"We'll get better from it and we'll be ready to go on Thursday."

Christoph Tilly led Ohio State with 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting while Bruce Thornton finished with 26 points. Devin Royal added 22 as the Buckeyes' top three scorers combined to go 29-of-38 from the free throw line. The Jaguars were whistled for 36 fouls, leading to a 53-20 margin in free throw attempts and 42-14 disparity in makes. 

That said, Ohio State (1-0) hit its first seven field goal attempts, including five from beyond the arc, to surge out to a 19-8 lead in the opening four minutes. However, the Jaguars (0-1) showed some moxie and closed the gap to 33-32 at the 8:45 mark on a D'Augustino runner. 

However, OSU countered with a 13-0 run, fueled partly by four Jaguar turnovers. The Buckeyes pushed the lead to 66-50 by halftime after shooting 67 percent in the opening stanza. 

The lead swelled beyond 20 in the opening stages of the second half and pushed to 91-69 with 10:47 remaining when Tilly hit a pair of free throws. The Jaguars immediately countered with a 7-0 run on a Maguire Mitchell tip-in, Tinsley three and Compas reverse to keep things interesting. 

The Jags closed within 10 at 103-93 when Dragas and D'Augustino connected on back-to-back threes, earning a roar from the latter and a hush from the OSU crowd. However, the Buckeyes rattled off the game's next seven points, including five from the charity stripe, to end any suspense. 

Howlett's four West Liberty transfers finished with 58 combined points while Finley Woodward had four points, six rebounds and eight assists. 

"They've been really good leaders, vocally. When things aren't going well, they're really important to us," Howlett said. "I thought tonight they played really well. 

"I'm proud of those guys and some of the guys we signed, I thought they had big nights for us. We're a pretty young team - we started two freshmen out there and it was really good for us to play (Ohio State)."

The Jaguars shot 50 percent overall and 12-of-38 (31.6 percent) from three, but saw Ohio State bully their way to a 63 percent shooting effort and 50-36 advantage in the paint. The Jaguars finished plus-four in turnover margin, but were outscored in points off turnovers, 22-19. 

The Jaguars will return to Indianapolis to host LIU on Thursday night (Nov. 6) at 6:30 p.m. inside the Jungle. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Rick Johnston (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) describe the action.