Georgia Tech Tops North Carolina

Rashad McCants followed his North Carolina teammates through the tunnel toward the locker room, wearing a stunned look while biting the front of his white jersey.

The second-ranked Tar Heels had just lost, 78-75, to Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Saturday at Washington after McCants missed a three-point basket that would have forced overtime.

“You know,” the junior guard said with a sigh, “that was supposed to go in.”

The top-seeded Tar Heels (27-4) were supposed to win their first ACC title since 1998, but that didn’t happen, either.

Will Bynum scored a career-high 35 points, and the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets (19-10) advanced to the ACC championship game today against Duke with a stunning upset of the league’s regular-season champions.

“This was no upset out here today. I want to make that point clear,” Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt said. “These are two great teams, and our team, being a team that I think has accomplished a lot at big moments ... to be written off was kind of amusing to me.”

After Bynum capped his magnificent performance by making two foul shots with nine seconds left, McCants’ three-point try bounced off the front of the rim and into the arms of Georgia Tech’s Jarred Jack, who clutched the ball until time expired.

“It’s not a surprise, it’s not a shock to us,” Jack said. “We knew we could come in here and compete with any team in our conference, as well as any team in the country.”

Thanks to Bynum, whose 35 points is the most by a Georgia Tech player in the ACC tournament, surpassing the 33 by Mark Price against Virginia in 1983.

“It was big, but I would rather have scored two and won anyway,” a teary-eyed Bynum said at the postgame news conference. At that point, Hewitt interjected, “It was fun watching the 35, I’ll tell you.”

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No. 5 Duke 76, North Carolina State 69 -- J.J. Redick carried the Blue Devils (24-5) to their seventh consecutive ACC tournament final with a spectacular individual effort, making seven three-point baskets and scoring 35 points. He surpassed Ronnie Mayer’s school record of 34 points for an ACC tournament game, set in the 1955 semifinals.

The third-seeded Blue Devils won despite missing six free throws in a row down the stretch. But the Wolfpack (19-13) couldn’t take advantage. Ilian Evtimov and Engin Atsur each missed three-point attempts in the final minute.

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BIG 12 CONFERENCE

No. 10 Oklahoma State 78, No. 9 Kansas 75 -- Joey Graham made four free throws in the final 41.4 seconds to help the Cowboys (23-6) beat the Jayhawks (23-6) in the Big 12 Conference semifinals at Kansas City, Mo.

The Cowboys set up a showdown in today’s title game between two coaches with 1,630 wins between them. It’ll be Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton, with 778 wins, vs. Texas Tech’s Bob Knight, who has won 852 games in his Hall of Fame career. The Red Raiders beat top-seeded Oklahoma, 69-63, in the other semifinal.

Graham, who set a Big 12 record this season by making 39 free throws in a row, made two to give the Cowboys a three-point lead with 10 seconds left.

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Texas Tech 69, No. 17 Oklahoma 63 -- The fourth-seeded Red Raiders (20-9) led by as many as 11 points in the second half before the top-seeded Sooners (24-7) made a late run to move to within 64-61 with 38.5 seconds left. But they scored only once more, on Terrell Everett’s layup with 7.7 seconds left, and the Red Raiders sealed the win by making five of eight free throws down the stretch.

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BIG EAST CONFERENCE

No. 16 Syracuse 68, West Virginia 59 -- Hakim Warrick had 20 points and 13 rebounds -- his third double-double in three games -- and the third-seeded Orange (27-6) won the Big East tournament for the first time since 1992.

Warrick was selected the tournament MVP. The only other player to have three double-doubles in one tournament was Craig Smith of Boston College last year.

The loss at Madison Square Garden ended a history-making run for the Mountaineers (21-10), the first No. 8 seed to ever reach the championship game.