CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Tyler Hansbrough hit a fadeaway jumper off an offensive rebound with 0.8 seconds left to help No. 1 North Carolina beat Virginia Tech 68-66 on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals.
Hansbrough finished with 26 points and nine rebounds for the top-seeded Tar Heels (31-2), who trailed almost the entire way against a team it had routed last month. The Tar Heels advanced to Sunday’s championship to Clemson, which uspet Duke.
A.D. Vassallo scored 17 points to lead the fourth-seeded Hokies (19-13), who couldn’t get off a shot on their final possession and watched a possible NCAA tournament bid-clinching win painfully slip away.
The Tar Heels rallied from an eight-point deficit in the second half before getting the ball with 21 seconds left in a tie game.
Clemson 78, No. 7 Duke 74
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Trevor Booker scored 18 points, Cliff Hammonds added 17 and Clemson, the perennial pushover in the Atlantic Coast Conference, stunned to reach the tournament title game for the first time in 46 years.
The third-seeded Tigers (24-8), who had lost 22 straight games to the Blue Devils, pulled away in the second half and will get a shot at the top-ranked Tar Heels on Sunday.
Rugged James Mays, who scored 16 points, had two three-point plays in an 11-4 run that snapped a 56-all tie.
Second-seeded Duke (27-5) cut the lead to 71-69 on Greg Paulus’ 3-pointer with 48 seconds left. But then Clemson, a 63-percent free throw shooting team, made 3-of-4 from the line.
Conference USA
No. 2 Memphis 77, Tulsa 51
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Antonio Anderson scored 19 points, and No. 2 Memphis added a third straight Conference USA tournament championship to the Tigers’ third consecutive regular-season title.
Anderson hit 4-of-5 from 3-point range to become the third player to lead the Tigers (33-1) in scoring in as many games. He and Chris Doulas-Roberts, who added 16 points, went a combined 14-of-17 from the floor. Jeff Robinson had 11 off the bench.
Tulsa (20-13) 7-footer Jerome Jordan had a team-high 17 points, and Ben Uzoh added 13.
The Tigers finished the season with their seventh straight win and 42nd consecutive league win, strengthening their case for a second No. 1 seed in three seasons after tying the school record for wins in a season with 33.
Southeastern Conference
Georgia 60, Kentucky 56, OT
ATLANTA (AP) – Zac Swansey scored five points in overtime, including an unlikely turnaround 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left, and Georgia continued its surprising SEC tournament run.
The game was originally scheduled for late Friday night at the Georgia Dome. It was postponed after a tornado damaged the facility during Mississippi State’s overtime win over Alabama Friday night.
The Southeastern Conference tournament shifted to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech – Georgia’s in-state rival. The game was played before an estimated crowd of 1,500, as only a limited number of friends, family and school officials will be allowed to attend the rest of the tournament schedule in the smaller facility.
Georgia (15-16) will play Mississippi State in Saturday night’s second semifinal. Kentucky (18-12) is left with a nervous wait for Sunday’s NCAA tournament show.
Terrance Woodbury scored 17 points and Sundiatta Gaines had 16 as Georgia took its first SEC tournament victory over Kentucky in nine tries.
Big 12
No. 6 Texas 77, Oklahoma 49
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A.J. Abrams broke out of a shooting slump with seven 3-pointers and 24 points, helping Texas reach its third consecutive Big 12 tournament final.
Abrams kept Texas (28-5) close in a tight first half, then keyed a 14-2 run early in the second to help the Longhorns pull away for their sixth straight win over the rival Sooners (22-11).
Texas, which has lost the past two Big 12 title games to Kansas, shot 50 percent and got 17 points from D.J. Augustin to move on to Sunday’s championship game against the fifth-ranked Jayhawks.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma’s all-Big 12 forward, had 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 13 rebounds.
M 71
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Brandon Rush scored a career-high 28 points in front of his home town fans, sealing No. 5 Kansas’ win with two free throws in the final seconds.
The two-time defending champion Jayhawks (30-3) will meet No. 6 Texas for the championship for the third year in a row. Kansas and Texas tied for the regular-season title, but the Longhorns bested the Jayhawks 72-69 in their only meeting.
The Aggies (24-10) outrebounded Kansas 35-25 and hit almost 54 percent of their shots but could not stop Rush, the 6-foot-6 junior.
M.
Big Ten
No. 8 Wisconsin 65, No. 19 Michigan State 63
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Brian Butch scored 19, Marcus Landry added 18 and Joe Krabbenhoft had 11 points and 10 rebounds as Wisconsin held off a foul-challenged Michigan State and earned its second straight trip to the Big Ten tournament title game.
Wisconsin (28-4) will play Illinois, which beat Minnesota 54-50.
Drew Neitzel led all scorers with 26. But it wasn’t nearly enough to bail out the Spartans (25-8), who were whistled for 30 fouls and had four players foul out, including three in a 56-second span.
Wisconsin won despite going only 26-of-37 from the free throw line.
America East
UMBC 82, Hartford 65
CATONSVILLE, Md. (AP) – Darryl Proctor scored 23 points to help Maryland-Baltimore County earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament with a victory in the America East championship game.
UMBC (24-8) was making its first trip to a championship game since starting Division I play in 1986. The Retrievers, who won the America East regular-season title, also set a school record for victories with the win.
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