Georgia wins SEC title the hard way

A tornado. A doubleheader. An improbable trip to the NCAA tournament.

Georgia completed its remarkable run through the Southeastern Conference tournament on Sunday at Atlanta, building a big lead in the first half and holding on to beat Arkansas, 66-57, in the championship game to earn its first NCAA trip since 2002.

The Bulldogs (17-16) became only the third team in the tournament’s modern era to win four games in four days -- two of them Saturday, an impromptu bit of scheduling forced by a tornado that hit the Georgia Dome.

Georgia cut down the nets on the home court of Georgia Tech, its in-state rival and the replacement venue for the tournament after the dome was damaged Friday night.

“It’s really gratifying,” said Georgia Coach Dennis Felton, who had only nine scholarship players left after injuries, defections and disciplinary problems. “Regardless of how much adversity we went through and how much we had to go through as a team, the guys we had left had enough character to keep fighting.”

Arkansas (22-11) beat Vanderbilt and regular-season champion Tennessee on its way to the final, good enough for its third consecutive NCAA appearance.

It was an unlikely rise for the Bulldogs, who beat as many SEC teams at the tournament as they did during throughout the regular season. It gave them a No. 14 seeding in the West, where they will play third-seeded Xavier at Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Terrance Woodbury scored 16 points and the Bulldogs headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the era of former coach Jim Harrick, during which the program ended up on probation for violations that had prompted the school to decline a postseason trip despite having a 19-victory team in 2003.

Felton took over as coach, with a mandate to clean things up. But when the Bulldogs finished last in the SEC East this season, there was plenty of speculation he would be out of the job as soon as the team made its expected exit from the league tournament.

Sunday, the Bulldogs were tested when the Razorbacks cut their lead to 36-26 by halftime and to 56-53 still later -- the closest Arkansas had been since the opening minutes. But the Bulldogs had come too far to let the second tournament title in school history slip away.

Albert Jackson went in for a dunk with 2:51 left after a wild sequence in which Georgia missed twice but kept coming up with the loose balls. Georgia’s Billy Humphrey sealed it with a three-pointer, getting off the shot after running down most of the shot clock.

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Atlantic Coast

North Carolina’s 86-81 victory over Clemson in the ACC tournament final at Charlotte, N.C., locked up the Tar Heels’ overall No. 1 seeding in the NCAA field of 65 while giving the program a record 17th conference title.

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough was named the tournament’s most valuable player after finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Tigers (24-9).

Wayne Ellington made 10 of 13 shots and finished with 24 points for the Tar Heels (32-2). North Carolina didn’t win a tournament game by more than 12 points.

“We didn’t dance around and climb on top of backboards and things like that,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said. “It was a great feeling and a very satisfying feeling for us.”

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Southland

Anthony Vereen had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead Texas Arlington to an 82-79 victory over Northwestern State at Katy, Texas, in the Southland Conference title game. The victory earned the Mavericks the school’s first NCAA tournament berth.

“You come to some places and they have all these championships and NCAA tournament appearances,” Vereen said. “Then you come here and look in the record books and it says under championships, ‘None, none, none.’ So it feels pretty good to win this one.”

Vereen’s two free throws with 11 seconds left helped seal the victory over the Demons (15-18) for the Mavericks (21-11).

Texas Christian Coach Neil Dougherty (75-108) was fired after having only one of six seasons with a winning record.