NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : MIDWEST AND EAST REGIONALS : Texas Runs to Victory : Midwest Regional: Longhorns overcome cold first half to reach round of eight, joining conference mate Arkansas.

Texas guard Lance Blanks fired up nothing but his namesake in the first half of the Longhorns’ NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal playoff game against Xavier.

Blanks, who loves to talk as much as he loves to shoot, had a lot of explaining to do after missing all eight shots he took in the first half. He made just two free throws as the Longhorns fell behind by 12 points at halftime.

But Blanks started hitting in the second half, scoring 26 of his 28 points to lead the Longhorns to a 102-89 victory Thursday night before 16,413 at Reunion Arena.

Texas (24-8) will play Arkansas (29-4)--a 96-73 winner over North Carolina in Thursday’s other semifinal game here--in the Midwest Regional final Saturday. It’s the first time the much-maligned Southwest Conference has had two teams in the final eight.

The Razorbacks have won five consecutive games from the Longhorns, including two this season. But Texas is anxious for a rematch.

“We were all pulling for Arkansas in the first game, not because we wanted to play Arkansas but because of what it would mean for our conference,” Texas Coach Tom Penders said. “Our kids feel like they have closed the gap on Arkansas a little bit. If we play really well, we have a chance to beat them. But we have to play 40 minutes of great basketball.”

Billed as “BMW, The Ultimate Scoring Machine,” guards Blanks, Travis Mays and Joey Wright combined for 86 points as Texas came back from a 16-point deficit and won by 13.

Mays had 32 points, 14 in the first half, and Wright added 26, 11 in the second half.

“We said early on that we had one of the great backcourts in the country,” Penders said. “All we needed was Dick Vitale to watch us a couple of times. Hopefully he was watching us tonight.”

“I didn’t really get down on myself. I just told myself to pick it up. We weren’t creating anything,” Blanks said of his halftime regimen. “I just challenged myself mentally. I went to the locker room and didn’t say a lot. I got real quiet and told myself that this next half might be the last of my career.”

With the score tied, 79-79, with 4:27 remaining, Texas outscored Xavier, 11-0. Blanks had seven points in the spurt and Mays added four.

After trailing by 12 points at halftime, Texas shot 57.1%in the second half, hitting 20 of 35 shots.

But Penders said the Longhorn defense made the difference.

“I thought the kids had a great second half,” Penders said. “You look at Lance Blanks’ numbers, Wright and Mays--the whole gang--but defense made the difference and our guys know that.

“In the first half, they got the ball inside on us too easily. We weren’t pressuring their passes. In the second half, I thought our guys created a lot of easy baskets. We had some guys in foul trouble. We let Xavier control the game.”

But the Longhorns controlled the second half.

Trailing by 16 points at the start of the second half, Texas blitzed Xavier, 34-17, to take a 75-74 lead on Blanks’ dunk with 9:06 left. Blanks had 13 points as Texas ran away from the Musketeers. But Xavier came back to tie the score, 79-79, before the Longhorns pulled away for good.

“I thought Texas played a tremendous second half. We just couldn’t stop them,” Xavier Coach Pete Gillen said. “They got on a roll and it was like an avalanche coming down a mountain. We stopped playing and started ‘spectating.’

“All of sudden we hit a brick wall. They kept attacking the basket and we didn’t have any answers for that. When we were in a zone, they went right by us. When we were in a man, they went right by us. We just couldn’t move our feet at all.”

With Blanks misfiring, the Longhorns sputtered in the first half, shooting just 39.4% and falling behind, 53-41, by halftime.

“We played as well as we could in the first half,” Gillen said. “We go up by 16 and all of a sudden they became tremendously aggressive. We wanted success, they were desperate for it.”