Syracuse wins again in OT

NEW YORK " Syracuse went five more minutes instead of five more overtimes.

The 18th-ranked Orange, less than 24 hours after winning the second-longest Division I game ever, played just one extra period in a 74-69 victory over West Virginia on Friday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

Instead of people running for the history books to compare its win as it did after beating Connecticut 127-117 in six overtimes in quarterfinals, Syracuse had a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden shaking its heads when regulation ended in a tie.

The Orange (26-8) will face top-seeded and fifth-ranked Louisville in the championship game Saturday night.

No. 1 North Carolina 79, Virginia Tech 76

ATLANTA " Tyler Hansbrough scored 28 points and made a disputed defensive stop in the final seconds as No. 1 North Carolina avoided an upset at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The Tar Heels, playing without injured ACC player of the year Ty Lawson, got all they could handle from the Hokies.

No. 4 Memphis 74,

Houston 49

MEMPHIS, Tenn. " Robert Dozier scored 16 points and Memphis became the first NCAA Division I program to win 30 games in four consecutive seasons by beating Houston in the Conference USA tournament semifinals.

Memphis (30-3) is to pair a fourth straight C-USA tournament title with the Tigers' regular-season titles.

No. 5 Louisville 69,

No. 10 Villanova 55

NEW YORK (AP) " Earl Clark scored 17 points, and Louisville turned up the pressure in the second half with two big runs to beat Villanova and reach the Big East tournament championship game for the first time.

Jerry Smith added 16 points for the Cardinals (27-5), who snapped out of a shooting funk from beyond the arc by hitting 13 3-pointers in winning their ninth straight game.

No. 7 Michigan State 64, Minnesota 56

INDIANAPOLIS " Chris Allen led three Spartans in double figures with 17 points, and Michigan State (26-5) kept its hopes for a No. 1 seed alive with a victory over scrappy Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

It was Michigan State's sixth straight win, and ninth in its last 10 games.

No. 9 Duke 66,

Boston College 65

ATLANTA " Gerald Henderson scored the go-ahead basket with 34.8 seconds remaining.

Rakim Sanders missed a last-second 3-pointer for Boston College after missing a jumper with 17.8 seconds left.

Kyle Singler matched his career high with 26 points, Henderson had 16 and Jon Scheyer had 14 for Duke (26-6).

Maryland 75,

No. 8 Wake Forest 64

ATLANTA " Greivis Vasquez scored 22 points and Maryland advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with an upset of Wake Forest, which was doomed by its worst shooting performance of the season.

Maryland (20-12) pulled away from a 36-31 halftime lead as the Demon Deacons (24-6) missed time and time again, finishing at 29.7 percent from the field.

No. 23 Arizona State 75,

No. 13 Washington 65

LOS ANGELES " James Harden scored 24 points, and No. 23 Arizona State reached the final of the Pac-10 tournament after blowing a 21-point lead.

Harden, the Pac-10 player of the year, shot 7-of-13, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and had nine rebounds and four assists for the fourth-seeded Sun Devils (24-8), who beat the Huskies (25-8) for just the second time in the last 15 games between the schools.

No. 14 Missouri 67,

Oklahoma State 59

OKLAHOMA CITY " Zaire Taylor scored a season-high 19 points and Leo Lyons added 12 of his 15 points in the second half.

It was a clash between two of the nation's highest-scoring offenses, but it sure didn't look that way. The teams combined to shoot only 18 percent from 3-point range, making just 10 of 55 long-range shots on the night.

Kim English scored four points in an 8-0 burst that put Missouri ahead midway through the second half, and the Tigers (27-6) pushed the lead to 54-47 when Matt Lawrence connected on a rare 3-pointer from the right corner with 5:21 to play.

The Tigers hung on from there to earn a spot in Saturday's title game against ninth-seeded Baylor.

Temple 55, No. 19 Xavier 53

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. " Dionte Christmas scored 20 points and defending champion Temple held Xavier to season lows in points and field-goal percentage in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

Lavoy Allen added 10 points and 11 rebounds as the fourth-seeded Owls (21-11) moved within game of becoming the first team to win consecutive conference tournament titles since they did it in 2000-01.

Xavier (25-7) will have to settle for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament Sunday. Derrick Brown had 19 points and B.J. Raymond added 18 for the Musketeers, who lost in the semifinals for the third straight year as the top-seeded team.

No. 20 LSU 67, Kentucky 58

TAMPA, Fla. " Marcus Thornton scored 21 points and LSU beat Kentucky to advance to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament and most likely end the Wildcats' streak of NCAA appearances at 17.

Thornton, the SEC player of the year, keyed a 10-2 spurt to enable the Tigers (26-6) to open a 14-point, second-half lead and nearly outscored Kentucky's high-scoring tandem of Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson by himself.

Kentucky (20-13) entered the tournament feeling it had to win it all to extend its string of consecutive NCAA appearances. The Wildcats last missed the NCAA tournament in 1991 and hasn't played in the NIT since 1979.

No. 22 Florida State 64, Georgia Tech 62

ATLANTA " Derwin Kitchen scored the go-ahead layup with 7.7 seconds left as Florida State beat Georgia Tech to deny the Yellow Jackets a second straight ACC tournament upset.

Florida State (24-8) ended a streak of 11 straight losses in the quarterfinals while advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 1992, its first year in the league. Toney Douglas had 25 points for the Seminoles, who face North Carolina in Saturday's first semifinal.

No. 24 Purdue 79,

Penn State 65

INDIANAPOLIS " Robbie Hummel scored 20 points and No. 24 Purdue beat Penn State 79-65 Friday night in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

San Diego State 64,

No. 25 BYU 62

LAS VEGAS " Lorrenzo Wade scored 16 of his 24 points after halftime and hit two key free throws with 7.6 seconds left, carrying San Diego State into the Mountain West Conference tournament final.

Kyle Spain added 13 points for the Aztecs (23-8), who all but assured themselves of a trip to the NCAA tournament with a stirring second-half effort against the Cougars (25-7), who haven't won the conference tournament since 2001 despite being the top seed in each of the last three years.

Wade was outstanding for the second straight night in his final conference tournament, scoring 12 points in the final 6:13. The Aztecs have won five straight since losing at home to BYU on Feb. 24.

Southern California 65, No. 15 UCLA 55

LOS ANGELES " Freshman DeMar DeRozan had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Southern California forced UCLA into its worst shooting performance of the season, upsetting the 15th-ranked Bruins in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals.

Dwight Lewis added 14 points and Taj Gibson had 13 points and 11 rebounds to send the Trojans (20-12) into Saturday's championship game against No. 23 Arizona State (24-8). The teams split their regular-season meetings.

Josh Shipp scored 19 points and Nikola Dragovic added 12 for the Bruins (25-8), who shot 27 percent (19-of-70) from the field and trailed the entire game.

They swept the Trojans in the regular season, but were denied a second straight berth in the tourney title game as their five-game winning streak ended.