Duke and North Carolina move on to Sweet Sixteen

Blue Devils Survive Longhorns 74-69 To Advance To Sweet 16

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Gerald Henderson finally will find out what the second weekend of the NCAA tournament is like.

Henderson scored 24 points and hit three free throws in the final minute to help Duke beat Texas 74-69 on Saturday night in the second round of the East Regional.

Kyle Singler added 17 points and Jon Scheyer added 13 for the second-seeded Blue Devils (30-6). They reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2006 and will face third-seeded Villanova (28-7) on Thursday night in Boston.

A.J. Abrams scored 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting for the Longhorns (23-12), who rallied from a late 10-point deficit to tie it twice in the final 2 minutes — the last time coming when Gary Johnson’s free throw with 1:07 remaining made it 69-all.

Nolan Smith hit two free throws with 47 seconds left to put Duke up 71-69, and the Longhorns missed two chances in the final 40 seconds to tie it.

Sweet Saturday: UNC Stops LSU; Moves onto Sweet Sixteen, 84-70

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -No one has ever doubted Ty Lawson’s talent, speed or ability to take over a game for North Carolina. Maybe now Lawson won’t hear so many questions about whether he’s tough enough, too.

Lawson scored 21 of his 23 points after halftime in his return from a toe injury, and his three-point play sparked the decisive second-half run as North Carolina held off LSU 84-70 in the South Regional on Saturday.

Wayne Ellington scored 23 points to lead the Tar Heels (30-4), who ran off 11 straight points in a tie game to take control and move on to next week’s regional semifinals in Memphis, Tenn. North Carolina will face the winner of the Gonzaga-Western Kentucky game.

North Carolina came into the season as everybody’s pick to win the national championship. That goal would likely be over by now if not for the player coach Roy Williams has dubbed “Dennis the Menace” for his playful antics in practice.

But the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year got better as the game wore on, helping the Tar Heels rally from a five-point deficit midway through the second half to beat the eighth-seeded Tigers (27-8). Lawson finished 7-for-13 from the floor to go with six assists and no turnovers in 31 minutes.

Terps Fall To Memphis, 89-70

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Bouncing back from a first-round malaise that might have sunk them if not for Robert Sallie’s record-setting shooting, Memphis hit a sizzling 70 percent in the first half Saturday and rolled past Maryland 89-70 in the second round of the West Regional.

All of a sudden the Tigers looked and felt like the team that rode a 25-game winning streak into the tournament they nearly won a year ago.

Sallie, the surprise hero of Thursday’s hard-fought victory over No. 15 seed Cal State Northridge, came off the bench and kept up his 3-point onslaught by hitting his first three, making him 13-for-19 for the tourney.

*****from theacc.com*****