CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Only a few minutes ticked off the clock Sunday before Bill Cole and his Illinois teammates had seen enough of Ohio State’s 3-point accuracy.

But with Jon Diebler and David Lighty each showing a hot hand, the Illini would see a lot more.

No. 13 Ohio State used a barrage of threes, most of them from Diebler, to take an early 21-10 lead before finishing off Illinois, 72-53.

“Before we looked up we had a big deficit to look at,” Cole said. “They just kept raining those threes in, and it was kind of downhill from there.”

The Buckeyes were 11-of-22 from 3-point range, including a 6-for-11 performance from Diebler, who led Ohio State with 18 points. Lighty hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored 17.

“We took great shots and, the important part, we made shots,” said Ohio State’s Evan Turner, who was just shy of a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The Buckeyes (20-6, 10-3) held onto a piece of first place in the Big Ten, along with Michigan State. They’ve won nine in a row in the conference and six straight overall.

Illinois (17-9, 9-4) lost for the first time in six games and fell a game behind the conference leaders. The Illini took the court Sunday after back-to-back wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin that put them back in the Big Ten title chase.

After trailing by one early, the Buckeyes used an 18-6 run to finish off the Illini early.

Illinois’ first and last lead (4-3) came just over two minutes into the game on a Mike Davis basket on a fast break.

A single free throw from Turner with 17:40 to play in the first half started the Buckeyes on an 18-6 run that gave them a 21-10 lead. Diebler ended the run with a 3-pointer — his second during the span — and the Buckeyes hit five of six shots from the field.

From there, the Buckeyes coasted into halftime with a 36-20 lead.

Demetri McCamey led Illinois with nine points — nearly seven short of his average.

The much talked-about matchup between high school teammates McCamey and Turner turned into, for the most part, Turner’s show. Both went to St. Joseph High school in Bellwood, a Chicago suburb.

Turner’s 16 points came mostly in the second half, but eight of his 11 rebounds were in the first 20 minutes.

McCamey, on the other hand, didn’t hit his first field goal until there was 11:46 to play.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta said he reminded his players immediately after the game that, despite the big win, they have to keep winning.

“I’d like to tell you to feel good but, guess what, we’ve got Purdue on Tuesday night,” he said he told his players.

No. 13 OSU 72, Illinois 53

OHIO ST. (20-6): Turner 7-14 2-4 16, Lauderdale 3-3 3-4 9, Lighty 6-8 2-2 17, Diebler 6-11 0-1 18, Buford 2-6 0-0 5, Simmons 1-4 2-4 5, Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Days 0-1 0-0 0, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Madsen 1-1 0-0 2, Kecman 0-0 0-0 0, Sarikopoulos 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 9-15 72.

ILLINOIS (17-9): Davis 4-11 0-0 8, Cole 3-7 1-2 8, Tisdale 4-8 0-0 8, Richardson 2-10 0-0 4, McCamey 4-12 1-2 9, Paul 2-8 0-0 6, Jordan 0-2 1-2 1, Chisholm 0-1 0-0 0, Simpson 0-1 0-0 0, Keller 2-3 0-0 5, Griffey 2-4 0-0 4, Semrau 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-67 3-6 53.

Halftime—Ohio St. 36-20. 3-Point Goals—Ohio St. 11-22 (Diebler 6-11, Lighty 3-5, Buford 1-2, Simmons 1-3, Days 0-1), Illinois 4-24 (Paul 2-6, Keller 1-2, Cole 1-4, Chisholm 0-1, McCamey 0-4, Richardson 0-7). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Ohio St. 32 (Turner 11), Illinois 37 (Tisdale 8). Assists—Ohio St. 20 (Turner 8), Illinois 13 (McCamey 9). Total Fouls—Ohio St. 11, Illinois 15. A—16,618.

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