COLUMBUS, Ohio - A nondescript mid-autumn day gave way to an equally so 85-67 win in an exhibition game against Walsh to begin the 2016-17 season.

It wasn’t the prettiest effort in the first half for Ohio St., who never trailed, but gave the Division II school from North Canton every opportunity to get itself back into the game, taking 13 personal fouls, including four in the first six minutes.

JaQuan Lyle picked up where he left off last year, setting the pace with 14 points, including 12 in the first half, to go with four boards in 24 minutes.

Despite a 40-32 score at the half, the team played a self-described choppy 20 minutes of basketball, attributed to 28 total fouls between both teams.

“The first half was really an odd,” coach Thad Matta said. “There wasn’t really any flow.”

Matta said the emphasis was cutting down on mistakes, especially fouls, so they could better execute set plays in their only preseason game of the season.

“We talked about it at halftime, we couldn’t get a run going because of the fouls,” Matta said.

Ohio St. managed to inject life into the game early in the second half, extending the lead to 16, its largest of the night to that point, off a layup in the paint by Trevor Thompson, who contributed nine points of his own, fourth most on the team.

Matta was able to use the matchup as an opportunity to mix in both veterans and new faces, testing out different combinations with the long season ahead. 11 players saw the floor, and Matta indicated they would use the remaining week of preseason to continue to mix and match to find the combinations of players that best cycle the ball in the offensive zone.

““We have to be a share the basketball type of team,” Matta said. “Every time we had ball movement, good things happen.”

One newcomer, freshman C.J. Jackson was able to make his presence felt as the score pulled away in the second half. Forcing a Walsh turnover in their own zone and layup to make the score 71-49. Ohio St. would begin to make it ugly, outscoring 33-17 with 6:58 remaining in the game.

As the time whittled down, Ohio St. played progressively better ball, committing just one foul in the final five minutes. However, Matta identified the team is still a ways off from ideal, as they turned the ball over three times in the final minutes of the game.

“I thought we did a better job of executing than I thought we would do. We’re still a little slow on some reads we need to make and decision making,” Matta said. “When we ran the floor the way we wanted to with the pace we want good things really happen for us.”

With the start of the season around the corner, Matta indicated they still have tweaks in store. Ohio St. scored 16 fast break points, including ten in the second half, a point of emphasis postgame, with the season opening at Navy on Friday, Nov. 10.

“Putting a threat on the defense is advantageous for us in terms of scoring opportunities and ball movement,” Matta said. “I want to go as much as we possibly can.”