COLUMBUS, Ohio -- JaQuan Lyle scored 17 and JaeSean Tate added 14 and 11 rebounds as Ohio State routed Western Carolina 66-38 in another tuneup game on Monday night.Kam Williams added 13 points and Trevor Thompson had 10 for Ohio State, which is 4-0 to start the season but has gotten away with some sloppy play over lesser opponents. The Buckeyes shot just 41.8 percent from the floor Monday, but outrebounded Western Carolina 44-33.On the defensive end, we played very good. We got stops, Lyle said. But on the offensive ends we just (werent) there mentally.The Buckeyes trailed 4-2 early before opening up the game with a 9-0 run and cruising from there. Western Carolina (1-4) shot just 27.5 percent from the floor and committed 20 turnovers.I thought defensively we were as sound as weve been in a long time, Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. On the flip side, we had possessions where were not thinking the game, were not making the easy play, were not making the easy read. Weve got to get better at that.Haboubacar Mutombo led the Southern Conference team with 11 points, and Marc Gosselin had nine points and 14 rebounds.The Buckeyes dominated inside, scoring 36 points in the paint, compared with just 10 for Western Carolina.Were going to keep building, keep winning, keep moving in the right direction, Williams said.Ohio State led 32-18 at the half on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor by Tate and eight steals by the Buckeyes. Lyle was 4 for 4 from the foul line in the half.For us to have a chance in this ballgame we needed to shoot the ball with a little consistency, Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said. We had 11 turnovers in the first half, and that hurt us a little bit. We cant give away possessions. Ohio State is too talented to do that. Youre not going to win too many ballgames shooting 27 percent.BIG PICTUREWestern Carolina: The Catamounts got to put their game up next to a more-talented Big Ten team before starting the conference season.Ohio State: The only thing Ohio State can hope to get from games like this is improvement. Western Carolina will be one of the worst teams the Buckeyes play this season. Matta said his team still needs work.We werent as connected as we need to be, we werent as sharp, he said.INJURY REPORTOhio State starting forward Keita Bates-Diop sat out with a sprained ankle he suffered Thursday in the win over Providence. Matta said he was out of the mobilization boot but hes day to day. Williams started in his place.UP NEXT:Western Carolina: The Catamounts travel to Jackson, Mississippi, to face Jackson State on Saturday.Ohio State: The pre-conference home stand continues Wednesday night against Jackson State.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 .Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy Swell Black Bottle .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Swell Drink Bottles Liberty . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. http://www.swellbottlesclearance.com/swell-water-bottle-floral.html . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Swell Drink Bottle Sale . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). Discount Swell Bottles .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. WASHINGTON -- When Anthony Rendon hit a three-run home run to put the Washington Nationals ahead, Dusty Baker couldnt contain his excitement. The veteran manager was so excited about Max Scherzer being in line for his 19th win that he celebrated in the dugout with the Cy Young Award candidate.Thanks to Rendon and his own in-game adjustments, Scherzer got that 19th win as the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 on Tuesday night. Scherzer gets the chance at win No. 20 in his final start Sunday, something Baker was thinking about all along.He really cared about it, Scherzer said of Baker. You could just tell that he really wanted it. That just shows you how great our team is that when were down two runs in the sixth inning we find a way.Scherzer (19-7) shook off a leadoff home run by Jean Segura and third-inning doubles by Jake Lamb and Welington Castillo to get through six innings with just two runs allowed and six hits. He struck out 10 batters for the 13th time this season and 49th time in his career, reaching 277 strikeouts in 2016 to break his own Nationals record set last year.As pumped as Baker was about Scherzer strengthening his Cy Young Award case, the right-hander knew this was an important game, with the Los Angeles Dodgers chasing Washington for home-field advantage in their NL Division Series. The Nationals lead Los Angeles by two games with five to play, after the Dodgers lost 7-1 at San Diego.Thats what were playing for, said Scherzer, who mixed in his slider, curveball and changeup to strike out six consecutive batters at one point. I know the 19 wins, yada, yada, yada, but the most important thing is the team wins. I would love to have Game 5 here at Nationals Park facing the Dodgers. In a short series, home-field advantage matters.After Arizonas Matt Koch held the Nationals without a hit through five innings of his first major league start, Rendon hit his 19th home run of the season, depositing a fastball from Randall Delgado (4-2) into the visiting bullpen in left-center field. That set off Baker and Scherzers emotional celebration and earnedd Rendon a curtain call from the crowd of 24,297.dddddddddddd.It was pretty cool, said Rendon, whose home run was his 500th career hit. Its definitely humbling, too. It doesnt happen too often, so enjoy it.Rendon stepped up with power in the Nationals first game without all-star catcher Wilson Ramos, out for the rest of the season and playoffs after tearing the ACL in his right knee Monday. Backup catcher Jose Lobaton also contributed at the plate like Baker needs him to, and Rendon supplied the big hit at the start of what the manager referred to as hero time with so much at stake.With Ramos out, reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper still not ready to return from a thumb injury and Daniel Murphy out with a strained glute, Rendon is needed more than ever and he delivered.Hes a guy that can hit second, third, fourth, fifth depending on who we have out there, Baker said. Hes virtually unfazed by almost any situation. You cant tell when hes excited and that helps him at the plate.KOCH COMES THROUGHKoch impressed manager Chip Hale by being so aggressive and effective in his first start after five relief appearances. Lobatons single in the sixth ended the no-hit bid, but the 25-year-old probably wouldnt have been able to go much longer with a pitch limit around 75.The right-hander finished with 69 pitches, 47 for strikes.This was a guy who has already shown in the relief appearance that we gave him that hes not afraid and he goes right at guys, Hale said.TRAINERS ROOMDiamondbacks: Hale said RHP Rubby De La Rosa successfully had stem cell injections in his elbow. De La Rosa is trying the stem cell procedure in an attempt to avoid a second Tommy John surgery.Nationals: LHP Sammy Solis threw a perfect seventh inning in his first appearance since Aug. 15 after a stint on the DL with shoulder inflammation.UP NEXTLHP Gio Gonzalez (11-10, 4.51 ERA) starts the third of the four-game series for the Nationals against Diamondbacks RHP Shelby Miller (2-12, 6.47). ' ' '
