Lighting It Up: David Lighty, Ohio State Dismantle George Mason, 98-66

CLEVELAND—The Ohio State Buckeyes made it clear why they are the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Sunday night, ripping apart the George Mason Patriots by a score of 98-66.

Senior guard David Lighty racked up 25 points, making seven-of-seven three-point attempts. Freshman Aaron Craft obliterated his career record for assists in a game with 15, William Buford and Jared Sullinger scored 18 a piece, Jon Diebler put up 13 and the Buckeyes shot 61 percent from the field.

Ohio State shot 62 percent from behind the arc, hitting 16-of-26 three-pointers.

George Mason (27-7) made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2006 as an 11 seed. After an 11-2 run over Ohio State (34-2) in the first four minutes of the game, the Patriots' players hopes were high to make another shocking journey in the tournament. However, Jared Sullinger and the Big Ten champions had a statement to make.

"It's over, yo," he said to opposing forward Ryan Pearson.

And after a few quick adjustments made by coach Thad Matta, he was right.

The Buckeyes hammered their way to a 50-15 scoring run to end the first half. They never let up, putting George Mason's hopes to an immediate stop.

Luke Hancock, the sophomore guard who averaged 10 points a contest for George Mason, missed the game due to food poisoning. Still, it would be hard to think that his contribution would have changed much of this game's outcome.

Ohio State held George Mason to 43 percent from the field and forced 17 turnovers. It got to the free-throw line 11 more times than the Patriots and doubled their amount of three-pointers made with 16. The Buckeyes' bench is rarely seen on the court, but after taking a 90-55 lead with 5:48 remaining, it got some appreciated tournament experience.

The Buckeyes will face John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats (27-8) in the East regional semifinals Friday in Newark, New Jersey. Kentucky is coming off of a 71-63 win versus West Virginia, where it battled for a round-of-16 spot against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State is 5-0 all-time in NCAA tournament games against Kentucky.