Ohio State cruises past Loyola, Md. 78-59

By: Associated Press

Posted: Thu 11:47 PM, Mar 15, 2012

PITTSBURGH -- Deshaun Thomas scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead second-seeded Ohio State to a 78-59 victory over Loyola, Md., on Thursday night in the second round of the East Regional.

Jared Sullinger added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Buckeyes (28-7), who dominated the smaller Greyhounds inside, finishing with a 49-24 rebound advantage.

Ohio State will play seventh-seeded Gonzaga in the third round on Saturday at the Consol Energy Center. The Bulldogs beat 10th-seeded West Virginia 77-54.

The Buckeyes, playing on the same court top-seeded Syracuse struggled to beat North Carolina-Asheville hours earlier, twice took a 15-point lead in the first half. The Greyhounds got within 42-31 at halftime but the Buckeyes went on to lead by as many as 20 in the second half.

Erik Etherly had 19 points for the Greyhounds (24-9), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, who were in the tournament for the second time and first since 1994.

Texas A&M Face Vanderbilt on Second Day of SEC Tournament

We ask that the following Community Standards be followed:

Comments must not be profane or vulgar.

Comments must not use hate speech, racial slurs, or violent descriptions.

We encourage varying views to be shared. We do ask commenters to not personally attack other readers, groups, people featured in our stories, or other posters for disagreeing with their views.

Comments must not contain negative, comparative debates between community standards of cities or towns.

Comments must contribute to the discussion, flaming and/or trolling will not be tolerated.

Comments must be truthful and not intentionally falsified. Providing a source link is encouraged.

If you find that a comment violates the above rules, please use the flagging option located to the right of the comment to notify the moderators.
For a complete list of guidelines, please follow this link:
http://www.kbtx.com/home/misc/Online-Commenting-Policy-181579421.html