COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the first four games of the season, just about everybody was playing well for Ohio State except LaQuinton Ross. On Saturday, he was one of the few Buckeyes who had a good game -- and it made a world of difference. Ross scored four of his career-high 23 points in a 10-0 second-half run, leading No. 5 Ohio State past Central Connecticut State 74-56. "I knew I was going to come around eventually," Ross said after hitting 9 of 13 shots from the field and adding six rebounds and an assist. "Ive been playing basketball all my life. Everybody goes through situations, struggles, out there on the court. It was just something I had to get through. I knew I would get through it eventually." After shooting 22 per cent from the field at the start of the season, Ross is shooting 63 per cent over his last three games. On a day when the Buckeyes (8-0) were lethargic at both ends, his shooting kept them in the lead and eventually put the game out of reach. "Our mindset wasnt right," said Lenzelle Smith, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half. "It was just us. We werent ready to play when we came out of the tunnel." The Blue Devils (2-6) certainly were. Their 3-2 zone befuddled the Buckeyes. They got back quickly to snuff Ohio States transition game. And they took their time on offence, working for good shots while shooting 46 per cent for the game. "We came in here knowing Ohio State is as good as any team in the country," coach Howie Dickenman said. "We wanted to gain some respect; I thought we gained some respect." The Buckeyes had won the only previous meeting between the teams in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament. The top-ranked Buckeyes, behind Greg Odens 19 points and 10 rebounds, beat the Blue Devils 78-57. Ohio State would advance to the national championship game, losing to defending champion Florida. The Blue Devils scored six of the last eight points in the first half to cut a 14-point deficit to 38-29. "It was sarcasm and angry at the same time," Ross said of coach Thad Mattas halftime talk in the locker room. "He tried to keep cool because he feels like were a veteran team and some of the mistakes we were making we shouldnt have made. I know for a fact he was upset. I think the whole team knew it." Ahead 38-29 at the break, the Buckeyes had difficulty finishing off the pesky Blue Devils. The lead hovered around 10 points until Ohio State broke free from a 49-41 lead with a quick run. It started with a steal by Amedeo Della Valle that led to Smiths dunk. After a CCSU miss, Sam Thompson hit a baseline jumper and, following a Blue Devils turnover, Aaron Craft fought through the traffic in the lane for a spinning layup that made it 55-41 -- matching Ohio States biggest lead to that point. Soon after, the Buckeyes forced a shot-clock violation and Ross muscled inside for a bucket. He then stole the ball near midcourt and drove coast to coast for another layup and an 18-point lead. The Blue Devils never seriously threatened again. Faronte Drakeford led them with 12 points and Matt Mobley added 10. CCSU outrebounded the Buckeyes 29-28 and didnt back down in the paint at either end. Matta said he hoped his team gained from the game. "Honestly, I said this is one we have to learn from it, but by the same token you have to wash it down the drain in the shower," he said he told the team afterward. "We must be a better basketball team (in our next game) than we were today." A crowd of 13,640 was as reserved as the Buckeyes most of the game. Maybe it was the lack of students, a midlevel opponent, the frosty weather outside or Ohio States impending Big Ten football championship game on Saturday night, but there were long stretches when the crowd was relatively quiet. Smith was asked if he would be watching the Buckeyes second-ranked football team go for the conference title in Indianapolis against Michigan State. "Absolutely!" he said with a laugh. 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Amedeo Della Valle had 15 points, Marc Loving scored a career-high 13 and the bench provided 38 points as the Buckeyes sprinted past Nebraska 84-53 on Saturday.DENVER -- Paul Pierce scored 18 points and the Brooklyn Nets rebounded from their worst loss more than 10 years by routing the slumping Denver Nuggets 112-89 on Thursday night. Joe Johnson, Marcus Thornton, and Mason Plumlee each added 10 points for the Nets, who snapped a six-game losing streak in Denver. The Nets hadnt won in the Mile High City since a 112-102 victory on Jan. 27, 2007. Randy Foye had 15 points to lead Denver, which has lost four in a row and nine of 10. Brooklyns 7-foot centre Jason Collins, the NBAs first openly gay player appearing in his third game since being signed to a 10-day contract, was given a round of applause from the crowd when he entered the game for the first time with 8:02 left. Collins finished with three points. Before the game, Collins said he planned to meet afterward with the family of Wyoming college student Matthew Shephard, who was tortured and murdered in 1998 because he was gay. Collins wears his No. 98 jersey in Shepards honour, and he said during a pregame news conference that the chance to meet Dennis and Judy Shepard was "one of those cool treats in life." The Nets were coming off a 104-80 loss at Portland the night before, their biggest loss since a 47-point defeat to Memphis on Dec. 13, 2003. But they quickly put that behind them with a runaway win of their own in a game in which they never trailed. Pierce scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Nets extend their lead to 38 points. Brooklyn took an 89-56 advantage into the fourth quarter and played reserves for most of the rest of the game.dddddddddddd The offensive struggles by Denver, which was without leading scorer Ty Lawson (left rib fracture) for an eighth consecutive game, were epitomized in the first quarter. The Nuggets were held to a season-low eight points on 3-for-18 shooting from the floor (16.7 per cent) and trailed by as many 31 points in the second quarter before managing to get within 23 at the half. It got bad enough for the Nuggets that the crowd, after seeing Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried both miss dunks in the first quarter, cheered derisively when Mozgov hit a layup early in the second. The Nets took advantage of the Nuggets horrible start to pull out to 59-36 halftime lead. Each of 10 Nets players seeing action to that point scored at least once. Denver ended up with as many turnovers in the first quarter as points. NOTES: The Nuggets were also without F Wilson Chandler, who was held out of the game because of sore right knee. ... The previous low for points in a quarter by the Nuggets was 12, against Oklahoma City on Jan. 9. ... The Nets Shaun Livingston made his 33rd start of the year, the most in a season in his career. ... Brooklyn improved to 4-10 in the second of back to back games. ... Since the beginning of January, the Nets have gone 17-8, fourth-best among Eastern Conference teams in that stretch. ... Denver, historically one of the teams with the strongest home-court advantage, fell to 14-15 at the Pepsi Center this season. ... All 13 Nets playing in the game scored. 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