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KJ Garland goes to the basket against Ohio State in NIT action on March 18.  Photo courtesy of UNCA

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jamar Butler netted 21 points and dished out 10 assists to lead Ohio State past UNC Asheville 84-66 to end the Bulldogs’ season on March 18 in an NIT first-round game on their home court.

During one span in the second half, the senior point guard scored or assisted on 15 consecutive points for the Buckeyes (20-13), who were passed over by the NCAA tournament a year after finishing as the national runners-up.

For OSU, Othello Hunter netted 16 points; Kosta Koufos, 15; and David Lighty, 13. The Buckeyes shot 56 percent from the field while making their eighth NIT appearance.

For UNCA, Reid Augst scored 20 points; Bryan Smithson, 17; and KJ Garland, 10.

UNCA (23-10), the first Big South Conference team to play in an NIT game, shared the conference’s regular-season title and made it to the Big South tournament final before losing to Winthrop, which captured the automatic NCAA berth.

The Bulldogs’ star big man, Kenny George, scored 12 points with 11 rebounds. He hit 6-of-7 shots from the field, blocked a shot and added an assist in 27 minutes. It was the junior center’s sixth double-double of the year.

“We battled and played hard but turned the ball over too many times in the first half,” UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said. “We shot the ball very well, especially in the first half and did a great job rebounding but a lot of that good work was undone by our turnovers.”

The Buckeyes built a 10-point lead at halftime and then pulled away in the second half. UNCA committed a season-high 16 turnovers in the first half that allowed Ohio State to score 22 points from those turnovers. The Bulldogs shot 64 percent (14-of-22) from the field in the first half.

Butler had a hand in all of the scoring in a 15-7 run midway through, scoring 10 points and assisting on a 3-pointer by Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale’s dunk off an inbounds pass for a 70-54 lead.

The Buckeyes had two big streaks in the first half, going on a 10-0 run for a 27-16 lead only to have UNCA counterpunch with a 12-2 run to pull to 29-28. Ohio State then closed the half on a 16-7 run for a 45-35 lead at the break.

The Bulldogs were within 61-53 with 12 minutes left before Butler hit a long three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to allow the Buckeyes to take a 64-53 lead. The Bulldogs could get no closer than 10 the rest of the game.

UNCA shot 52 percent from the field (27-of-52) for the game. It was the 20th time this season the Bulldogs shot at or better than 50 percent from the field. The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Buckeyes, 35-26. Garland finished the game with seven assists and 520 career assists.