4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 24, 1997 NCAA TOURNAMENT 'Cats nip Friars in overtime; Tar Heels roll over Cards BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Arizona, shaking off. a stunning Providence comeback that sent the game to overtime, defeated the Friars 96-92 yesterday in the NCAA Southeast Regional, sending coach Lute Olson's team to the Final Four for the second time in four seasons. Arizona (23-9), which also reached the Final Four in 1988, was shadowed by first-round losses to East Tennessee State, Santa Clara and Miami (Ohio) in the previous five seasons. But those were different teams. These Wildcats, with no seniors in the lineup, pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament Friday night, beating top-ranked Kansas in the regional semifinals. Then fourth-seeded Arizona pulled itself together after Providence rallied from a seven-point deficit over the final 1:15 of regulation to force an extra period. The No. 10 Friars (24-12), trying to become the lowest-seeded team to reach the Final Four since 1Ith-seeded LSU in 1986, tied the game 85-85 when Jamel Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 15.3 sec- onds remaining. Providence had a chance to win after stealing the ball at midcourt. But Corey Wright's 3-pointer was off target and the game went to overtime, where the Friars finally ran out of steam. Miles Simon scored 30 points to lead the Wildcats, putting them ahead to stay on a basket with 2:53 left in overtime. Providence lost its best player, Austin Croshere, midway through the second half. He fouled out after scoring a tour- nament-low 12 points. The Friars still trailed 82-72 with 3 1/2 minutes to go and seemed to be finished. But with Croshere cheering them on from the bench, Providence made an amazing comeback. It began after Mike Bibby hit two free throws to give Arizona an .85-78 lead with 1:15 left. God Shammgod, who equaled Thomas with a team-high 23 points, made a free throw with 1:05 to go, missed the second and Derrick Brown got the rebound. He was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 85-81 with 1:02 left. Arizona broke the press and drove up court, but Michael Dickerson missed a wide-open 8-footer. Ruben Garces hit a free throw at the other end for Providence after grabbing one of his 19 rebounds, cutting the deficit to 85-82 with 47.1 seconds to go. Once again, the Friars came up with a defensive stop. Simon's shot was blocked by Garces and Providence drove quickly the other way, finding Thomas alone in the corner. The sophomore guard hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. But the Friars couldn't recover after Brown fouled out in overtime. Jason Terry clinched the victory with a pull-up jumper in the lane to give Arizona a 94- 90 lead with 1:03 left. NORTH CAROLINA 97, LouisvILLE 74 Top-seeded North Carolina beat sixth- seeded Louisville 97-74 yesterday win the East Regional and give the Tar Heels their 16th straight victory and 13th Final Four berth. North Carolina (28-6) has been to the Final Four in each of the odd-numbered years in the '90s, with 1993 being Smith's second national championship. The Tar Heels will play Arizona, the winner of the Southeast Regional, next Saturday in Indianapolis. North Carolina shot 63 percent from the field in the first half to take a 54-33 halftime lead. The Tar Heels held the Cardinals (26-9) without a field goal over the final five minutes, outscoring them 19-6. But Louisville. which trailed at half- time in all four of its NCAA tournament games, had other ideas. The Cardin started the second half with a 19-5 run to get within 69-66 with 8:19 to play. However, they went into another long scoring drought, and a 12-0 North Carolina run over the next 4:45 increased the lead to 81-66. North Carolina lost its first three Atlantic Coast Conference games this season for the first time ever. The Tar heels were being written off by many, but they haven't lost since Jan. 29. "This was a great feeling to A down those nets after the way we start- ed the ACC season," North Carolina forward Antawn Jamison said. "We came together as a team ind put all our differences aside." Louisville senior guard DeJuan Wheat, who sprained his left ankle in the regional semifinal. victory over Texas and was considered doubtful for Sunday's game, started but was limit in what he could do. The Cardinals' leading scorer and best ballhandler had one 3-pointer in five attempts in the first half and two of the the team's I I turnovers. le finished with six points on 2-for- Il shooting, and had eight assists in a gutty 32 minutes. "I just wanted to play," Wheat said. "If we were going to lose I wanted to be out on the court." Shammond Williams, who was select- ed the regional's most outstanding play* led North Carolina with 22 points, while Vince Carter had 18 and Jamison 15. Alex Sanders led Louisville with 20 points. Nate Johnson and B.J. Flynn each had 12, Flynn's all coming on 3-pointers. AP PHOTO Arizona's Miles Simon scored a game-high 30 points to lead the Wildcats into the Final Four for the second time in four years with a 96-92 overtime victory over surprising Providence. Arizona will meet North Carolina on Saturday. Different methods but same goal for Minnesota, Kentucky The Associated Press Minnesota used its depth and size to reach the Final Four. Kentucky did it with quickness and pressure. Kentucky, down to eight players because of injuries, pressured Utah into poor shooting and 17 turnovers for a 72-59 victory Saturday in the West Regional final at San Jose, Calif. Ron Mercer scored 21 points for Kentucky, and the defending nation- al champions limited All-American Keith Van Horn to 15 points on 5-for-12 shoot- ing for the Utes. "I'd hate to see what they'd be like at full strength," said Saturday'S Utah guard Ben games Caton. Kentucky 's opponent in the national semifinals will be Minnesota, which wore down UCLA, 80-72, to win the Midwest Regional at San Antonio on Saturday, Five Gophers scored in double fig- ures, led by Bobby Jackson's 18 points. Haskins said. "We're a balanced ballclub." Mercer hit 10-of-17 shots for Kentucky. including two straight baskets after Utah rallied to tie the game, 43-43, with 9:32 left. The sophomore All-American has already announced he's turning pro after this season. "He is a pro shooter." Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said. "He comes off the screen, elevates and shoots as well as anybody in the game, and that's why I think he'll have tremen- dous success at the next level." Anthony Epps scored 15 points and Wayne Turner added 12 for Kentucky (34-4), which will be mak- ing its 12th Final Four appearance. The Wildcats kept up their relent- less pressure, even though injuries to guards Derek Anderson and Allen Edwards reduced the squad to eight players. Only five of the remaining Kentucky players were on last sea- son's NCAA championship team, which sent four players to the NBA. "That is what makes this year so much more special," Kentucky guard Cameron Mills said. "Look at the talent we lost to the NBA. Look at the talent we lost in Allen, and look at the talent we lost in Derek." Van Horn often was triple-teamed by Kentucky's collapsing defense. "I've never been switched on like I was," Van Horn said. "I was never really able to get in the offensive flow. Kentucky has the athletes to do that." Michael Doleac added 13 points for Utah, which had a 14-game win- ning streak snapped. The Utes (29-4) were seeking their first Final Four spot since 1966. While Minnesota brought in waves of fresh players, only six UCLA players got significant playing time. and two played the entire game. Bruins center Jelani McCoy was limited to 13 minutes because he aggravated a chest injury. "I thought they did a good job of just playing hard," said Charles O'Bannon, who led UCLA with 22 points. "We started to get a little winded and they continued to push it. continued to throw in fresh bod- ies. Quincy Lewis scored 15 points for Minnesota, including 10 during a 16- 4 run that helped the Gophers over- come a 10-point deficit in the second half. Reserve Charles Thomas also made a key contribution with 14 points. "I think UCLA's goal was to come out and shut me and Sam (Jacobson) down," said Jackson, who scored 36 points in Minnesota's win over Clemson in the regional semifinals. "I don't think they paid any attention to these two guys." Minnesota and Kentucky will meet up in the Final Four in the second semifinal game next Saturday. And played school nine Minnesota players more than 10 minutes as the advanced to its first Final 4y I AP PH0TO It was all smiles in Gopher land as Minnesota advanced to its first-ever appearance in the Final Four with an 80-72 victory over UCLA on Saturday. Minnesota is looking to become the Big Ten's first national champion since Michigan in 1989. Four. "This is the way we play basket- ball," Minnesota coach Clem Notre Dame, GW upset top two seeds; Connecticut survives scare from Illinois COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Sixth-seeded Notre Dame will play No. 5 George Washington tonight for a berth in the Final Four. Notre Dame upset second-seeded Alabama 87-71 Saturday to set up this unlikely matchup, after North Carolina, the top seed, lost to the Colonials, 55-46. The Tar Heels led by eight points, but missed their final 10 shots. Connecticut, Old Dominion and Stanford, the other No. I seeds, all advanced to their regional finals. But Womlen'sNotre Dame and George Tournament Washington got rid of the East's top four seeds. The Irish won at third-seeded Texas 86-83 in the second round, while the Colonials beat Tulane, the fourth seed, 81-67. NOTRE DAME 87, ALABAMA 71 Beth Morgan had practiced for this moment performance of the season to beat Louisiana State 62-49 Saturday in the semifinals of the NCAA Mideast Regional women's basketball tournament. The Lady Monarchs made up for their offen- sive troubles with an overpowering rebounding effort and a suffocating defense that held the Lady Tigers without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes in the first half. FLORIDA 71, LOUISIANA TECH 57 Florida's Lady Gators respect history' and tradition. Florida coach Carol Ross wants her team to become a part of it. The Gators took a major step in that direc- tion Saturday with a 71-57 victory over Louisiana Tech in the semifinals of the NCAA Mideast Regional. Murriel Page had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Florida, which had never reached the final 16 until this year. CONNECTICUT 78, ILLINOIs 73 been an 86-77 victory over Notre Dame in the finals of the Big East tournament. TENNESSEE 75, COLORADO 67 Rebounding, defense and Chami4* Holdsclaw. Tennessee had all three and that's why the Lady Vols and not Colorado are going to the finals of the NCAA Midiest Regional. Holdsclaw scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half and Tennessee shut down Colorado's inside game over the final 20 min- utes to beat the Buffaloes 75-67 in Saturday night's semifinals. That creates the matchup that had been anticipated when the NCAA pairings were announced two weeks ago - defend' national Tennessee (26-10) against No. 1- ranked Connecticut (33-0) in the finals Monday night. STANFORD 91,VIRGINIA 69 Kate Starbird had 22 points and Jamila Wideman added 19 Saturday as Stanford dom- . ".'V :