Cincy upsets Syracuse to reach Big East final

NEW YORK — Cincinnati didn’t spend much time celebrating its biggest win of the season. That’s because the Bearcats have one more game to go for their first Big East title.

Minutes after shooting their way to a 17-point lead and then holding on to beat No. 2 Syracuse 71-68 on Friday night and advance to their first Big East championship game, the Bearcats were already thinking about what could be.

“I walked in the locker room and the guys had written ‘We need to win one more’ on the board. I didn’t even have to write it,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.

The fourth-seeded Bearcats (24-9) will meet seventh-seeded Louisville in Saturday night’s championship game at Madison Square Garden. The Cardinals beat third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Notre Dame 64-50.

To get there, they ended the 11-game winning streak of the top-seeded Orange (31-2). They did it with an incredible shooting performance over the opening 14 minutes of the game when they took a 17-point lead, and then by holding on as Syracuse was able to get within one point in the final seconds.

“It’s a huge win for our program,” Cronin said. “I think what you’ve got to realize in college basketball is you’ve got to allow teams the course of the season, some teams get better.”

Now a program that made headlines early in the season for a brawl against intra-city rival Xavier and sunk as low as losing at home to Presbyterian, has its seventh win over a ranked team this season, the most in the country.

“No, not at first, but as the season went on, yeah,” forward Yancy Gates said of thinking about playing for the conference title.

Gates was one of four Cincinnati players suspended for the December fight with Xavier. He missed six games for throwing a blindside punch in the fracas. That all seems a long time ago.

Gates and Sean Kilpatrick both had 18 points for Cincinnati, which rebounded from one of its worst 3-point efforts in the quarterfinals against Georgetown with one of its best against Syracuse.

“Over the course of the entire season, we lead the Big East in 3-point point field goals made. We’ve made more 3s than anybody in the Big East,” Cronin said. “We’re standing there wide open. Last night, we were 2 for 21. We shot seven that went in and out. We’ve got guys that can make shots, so law of averages catches up.”

Dion Waiters had 28 points for Syracuse, which was able to close within 69-68 with 5.4 seconds left when he made two free throws — and the second one he was trying to miss. Justin Jackson was all alone when he dunked with 1 second left for a three-point lead and Waiters’ desperation heave from beyond midcourt was off at the buzzer.

The loss shouldn’t hurt the Orange’s chances of being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but it did keep them from getting a chance to play for a sixth Big East title and first since 2006.

“Cincinnati moved the ball better than we did. They got some real good looks. They made eight 3s in the first half, and we didn’t get anything going offensively in the first half. I was shocked that we were within 12,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We just couldn’t get anything going. We’d get close a couple times.

“And then late, Dion made a couple really difficult 3s, and we got it to two and we had an opportunity, and we just couldn’t make a play there. We wanted Dion to try to miss the second one, but he’s such a good shooter, he couldn’t do that.”

Cashmere Wright and Dion Dixon both had 11 for the Bearcats, who came into the Big East tournament with their at-large NCAA berth still up for debate. That’s no longer true with the double-overtime quarterfinal win over No. 13 Georgetown and the victory over Syracuse in their first-ever semifinal appearance.

The Bearcats shredded Syracuse’s famed 2-3 zone from the start, making six of their first seven 3-point attempts. They made eight of their first 10 shots from beyond the arc in taking a 34-17 lead with 5:43 left in the first half, with Kilpatrick going 4 of 4. That was one point shy of Syracuse’s biggest deficit this season, and that came at Notre Dame in its only loss. It was only the third time this season the Orange trailed by double figures.

The sellout crowd of 20,057, which was wearing a lot of orange, was stunned as Syracuse shot 31 percent in the first half (9 of 29), while the Bearcats went 13 of 26 and had an assist on all but one of the field goals. A modest 6-1 run to close the half had Syracuse within 35-23.

The crowd came alive as the Orange chipped away at the lead. They became the team with the touch from 3-point range, shooting 9 of 17 in the second half while Cincinnati missed its first six 3s. Kilpatrick made the Bearcats’ only 3s of the second half in nine attempts, the second from the left corner as the shot clock ran out that made it 65-55 with 1:47 to play.

“Cashmere just told me to stay in the corner, and then Coach was telling me to go to the corner because Kris Joseph, he was going to come up and play Cash because Cash was hot, as well, throughout the game,” Kilpatrick said “Once he played Cash, I was just wide open, so it was a good thing that Cash caught me.”

The Orange, though, weren’t done.

Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph and Waiters all made a 3 in the final 37 seconds. Waiters’ 3 made it 68-66 with 17 seconds to play.

JaQuon Parker made one of two free throws with 15.6 seconds left. Waiters was fouled before he could get off a possible tying 3-pointer. He made the first and when the second went through the net, he turned to the Syracuse bench with slumped shoulders as he apparently tried to miss it to give the Orange one last chance.

“No matter who you’re playing, the top half of our league, the game is never over,” Cronin said. “It’s human nature to flinch a little bit when they come. Obviously it’s like a home game for them, which makes the win even sweeter for us. But we hesitated for a little bit and didn’t attack their pressure. Once we started attacking their pressure, we were able to get it back to a 10-point lead.

“I kept telling the guys in the timeouts, this is going to be a crazy ending and we’re going to win by more than 10 because we got to break the press. I have seen them play. When they get behind, they’re going to come. They’re not going to sit back in that zone. They’re going to come. So we did a pretty good job after our initial hesitation of attacking their pressure.”

It was the second straight year Syracuse lost in the semifinals. Connecticut beat the Orange 76-71 in overtime last season on its way to the tournament title.

“We’ve won 31 games, and we’ve proven what we can do and we’ve got to get back and we have to play a little better from the beginning,” Boeheim said. “Most national championships, not all, but a lot of them, have been won by teams that lose in their conference tournament, including us. So as much as we want to win this tournament, the tournament that starts next week is the only one that matters. Nothing else matters anymore in college basketball.”

NO. 1 KENTUCKY 60, LSU 51

NEW ORLEANS — Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 19 points and Kentucky survived a feisty effort by LSU in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Terrence Jones added 15 points and 11 rebounds, including a 9-0 run by himself that gave the Wildcats (31-1) the lead for good as they extended their winning streak to 23 games. Anthony Davis added 12 points and 14 rebounds after a slow start, and Doron Lamb scored 12.

Storm Warren scored 14 for LSU (18-14), which came in as a 17-point underdog after beating Arkansas in Thursday’s opening round. The Tigers led by as much as five points early in the second half before Jones’ surge turned the tide.

Andre Stringer added 11 points for the Tigers.

Kentucky will face Florida in the tournament semifinals on Saturday.

CINCINNATI 71, NO. 2 SYRACUSE 68

NEW YORK — Sean Kilpatrick keyed Cincinnati’s early 3-point barrage and scored 18 points in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

The fourth-seeded Bearcats (24-9) will meet Louisville in Saturday night’s championship game at Madison Square Garden.

To get there, they ended the 11-game winning streak of the top-seeded Orange (31-2). They did it with an incredible shooting performance over the opening 14 minutes of the game when they took a 17-point lead, and then by holding on as Syracuse was able to get within one point in the final seconds.

This was Cincinnati’s seventh win over a ranked team this season, the most in the country.

Dion Waiters had 28 points for Syracuse. The loss shouldn’t hurt the Orange’s chances of being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

NO. 12 BAYLOR 81, NO. 3 KANSAS 72

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Baylor sharpshooter Brady Heslip hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep Kansas at bay, and the Bears advanced to the Big 12 tournament title game.

Quincy Miller added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Pierre Jackson had 11 points and seven assists for the Bears (27-6), who will play No. 5 Missouri for the championship.

Baylor lost to the Tigers in its only previous Big 12 title game.

Tyshawn Taylor had 20 points for Kansas (26-6), which used a big second-half charge to briefly take the lead. But the Bears hung tough down the stretch, and Heslip’s two 3-pointers — one with 2:03 remaining, the other with 1:12 left — allowed them to hang on.

NO. 4 NORTH CAROLINA 85, MARYLAND 69

ATLANTA — North Carolina shook off an injury to defensive ace John Henson and pulled away from Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Reggie Bullock hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half, quickly extending a 10-point halftime lead to 42-26. Behind 30 points from Terrell Stoglin, the Terrapins sliced the deficit down to seven points a couple of times before the fourth-ranked Tar Heels pulled away again.

North Carolina (28-4) simply had too many weapons for Maryland (17-15), which was essentially a one-man show.

Kendall Marshall scored 13 points, knocking down three attempts from 3-point range, and had North Carolina putting on a dunking show at the rim with 12 assists.

The Tar Heels will face North Carolina State in the semifinals Saturday. It’s not yet known if Henson will be available. The ACC defensive player of the year injured his left wrist early in the game.

NO. 5 MISSOURI 81, TEXAS 67

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Phil Pressey and Kim English each scored 23 points, leading Missouri past Texas in a bruising Big 12 semifinal.

The second-seeded Tigers (29-4) next play No. 12 Baylor, which upset No. 3 Kansas 81-72 in the earlier semifinal, ruining many fans’ dream of a Kansas-Missouri title showdown. The Bears (27-6), swept in two games against Missouri in the regular season, will be seeking the first championship by a Texas team in the tournament’s 16-year history.

Missouri, which is leaving the Big 12 this year for the Southeastern Conference and severing ties with some schools that go back more than 100 years, led almost the entire way while making it three in a row over the Longhorns (20-13).

Texas guard J’Covan Brown, the Big 12’s top scorer, had 21 points.

NO. 6 DUKE 60, VIRGINIA TECH 56

ATLANTA — Tyler Thornton scored a career-high 13 points, Austin Rivers hustled for a clinching three-point play and Duke survived an ugly performance against cold-shooting Virginia Tech.

Seeking their fourth straight ACC tournament title, the Blue Devils (27-5) advanced to the semifinals against No. 17 Florida State.

Duke didn’t put away the 10th-seeded Hokies (16-17) until the closing seconds, even though Virginia Tech went more than 8 minutes without making a field goal in the second half.

Rivers scored 17 points and sealed it by outrunning two Hokies for a loose ball near midcourt. He then drove to the basket, drew a foul and completed the three-point play to make it 58-51 with 15.1 seconds left.

Robert Brown and Erick Green led the Hokies with 16 points apiece.

NO. 7 OHIO STATE 88, PURDUE 71

INDIANAPOLIS — Jared Sullinger had a season-high 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Ohio State get the win in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

Deshaun Thomas had 22 points and seven rebounds, and William Buford scored nine of his 11 points in the second half for the third-seeded Buckeyes (26-6). Ohio State shot 61 percent to post its second-best scoring output of the season and outrebounded Purdue 39-28.

The Buckeyes will play No. 10 Michigan on Saturday.

D.J. Byrd scored 20 points and Terone Johnson added 15 for the Boilermakers (21-12). Robbie Hummel, Purdue’s top scorer, finished with six points on 2-for-8 shooting.

NO. 8 MICHIGAN STATE 92, IOWA 75

INDIANAPOLIS — Draymond Green had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Michigan State to the victory in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

Adreian Payne added a career-high 16 points, Keith Appling had 12 points and six assists and Brandon Wood had 10 points for the top-seeded Spartans (25-7). The Spartans shot 58 percent from the field.

Michigan State will play No. 15 Wisconsin in the semifinals Saturday.

Josh Oglesby scored 20 points for Iowa (17-16). Zach McCabe and Roy Devyn Marble added 13 points each for the Hawkeyes, who defeated Illinois on Thursday.

NO. 10 MICHIGAN 73, MINNESOTA 69, OT

INDIANAPOLIS — Trey Burke scored seven of his career-high 30 points in overtime, and Michigan used a late flurry of 3-pointers to rally for the victory in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

Next up for the second-seeded Wolverines is a rematch with archrival Ohio State in Saturday’s semifinals. The Boilermakers and Buckeyes were playing in Friday night’s final game.

Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 20 points.

Minnesota (19-14) was led by Andre Hollins with 21 points and Rodney Williams with 20. Coach Tubby Smith was denied his 100th victory since taking the Minnesota job in 2007.

NO. 14 WISCONSIN 79, NO. 15 INDIANA 71

INDIANAPOLIS — Rob Wilson scored a career-high 30 points to power Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan to his 266th win since coming to Madison in 2002, breaking a tie for most career wins with Harold “Bud” Foster.

Wisconsin (24-8) faces No. 8 Michigan State in Saturday’s semifinals.

Three Indiana players — Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls and Cody Zeller — each scored 17 points. The loss ended the Hoosiers’ five-game winning streak and came just hours after the school announced senior guard Verdell Jones would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Wilson went 7 of 10 from 3-point range, despite coming in with a career percentage of 27.8 from beyond the arc. He was 11 of 16 overall.

Indiana (25-8) has lost 10 straight to the Badgers.

NO. 17 FLORIDA STATE 82, MIAMI 71

ATLANTA — Michael Snaer scored 20 points and Florida State beat short-handed Miami in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.

Ian Miller had 18 for the Seminoles (22-9), who will meet Duke in the semifinals.

Miami was without leading scorer Durand Scott. The university ruled Scott ineligible on Friday for receiving impermissible benefits.

Malcolm Grant had 19 points and Shane Larkin had 16 for Miami (19-12).

NO. 18 SAN DIEGO STATE 79, COLORADO STATE 69

LAS VEGAS — Jamaal Franklin, playing most of the second half with three fouls, scored 19 points and Chase Tapley had 10 of his 17 in the first five minutes of the second half to lead San Diego State to the victory in the Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals.

Coach Steve Fisher’s top-seeded Aztecs (26-6) will play for their third MWC tournament title and automatic NCAA tournament bid on Saturday when they face the winner of the other semifinal between No. 20 UNLV and New Mexico.

James Rahon had 15 points and Garrett Green 10 for SDSU.

The Rams (20-11) are hoping their RPI of 21 and regular-season wins against SDSU, UNLV and New Mexico will earn them their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003. The Rams beat SDSU by 17 at Fort Collins on Jan. 28.

Dorian Green had 20 points for CSU.

NEW MEXICO 72, NO. 20 UNLV 67

LAS VEGAS — Drew Gordon had 19 points and 13 rebounds for New Mexico, which raced back from deficits of 12-0 and 17-4 to stun UNLV in the Runnin’ Rebels’ home arena in the Mountain West Conference semifinals.

The Lobos (26-6) will play No. 18 San Diego State in the championship game Saturday night. The Lobos and Aztecs shared the regular-season title, with SDSU earning the top seed on a tiebreaker. SDSU will be trying for its third straight tournament title and automatic NCAA berth.

Tony Snell added 15 points and Demetrius Walker 12 for the Lobos, who outrebounded UNLV 41-25 and took advantage of the Runnin’ Rebels shooting just 35.6 percent overall.

New Mexico had lost to UNLV (26-8) the previous seven times they’d met in conference tournament games.

MASSACHUSETTS 77, NO. 21 TEMPLE 71

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Jesse Morgan scored 21 points and Chaz Williams had 20 to help Massachusetts advance to the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals.

The eighth-seeded Minutemen (22-10) stunned No. 1-seed Temple with a 15-0 run to open the second half and spoil the Owls’ bid for a fourth tournament title in five seasons.

UMass took control in the second half on a string of 3-pointers and Williams clinched it down the stretch from the free-throw line. Williams popped his No. 3 jersey toward a small but vocal group of UMass fans behind the basket in celebration.

Khalif Wyatt scored 15 points and Ramone Moore had 14 for the Owls (24-7). The Owls won their first outright A-10 title since 1990 and likely will be in the NCAA tournament field of 68.

The Minutemen will play St. Bonaventure on Saturday.

NO. 22 FLORIDA 66, ALABAMA 63

Bradley Beal scored 16 points, Erik Murphy added 15 and Florida moved on in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Gators had a 45-33 lead with 12:50 remaining after Murphy hit a pair of free throws, but Alabama responded with a 16-4 run to tie it at 49 on JaMychal Green’s three-point play with 6:52 to go.

Alabama had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Trevor Lacey’s 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim.

Florida (23-9) snapped a three-game slide and will face top-ranked Kentucky on Saturday in the semifinals.

Alabama (21-11) lost for just the second time in seven games. Green had 22 points, Trevor Releford scored 12 and Lacey added 11.

LOUISVILLE 64, NO. 23 NOTRE DAME

NEW YORK — Peyton Siva played another near-flawless floor game, Gorgui Dieng scored 16 points and Louisville reached the Big East tournament championship game for the third time in four years.

The cat-quick Cardinals held the Fighting Irish without a field goal for the final 12½ minutes in the first half and advanced to play Cincinnati on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Seventh-seeded Louisville (25-9), looking for its second tournament title since joining the league for the 2005-06 season, denied Notre Dame again in its quest to make the championship game for the first time. The third-seeded Fighting Irish (22-11) fell to 0-5 in the semifinal round — all under coach Mike Brey.

Kyle Kuric added 12 points for the Cardinals, who shot 56 percent from the field.