Volunteers vault past Buckeyes

| March 27, 2010 9:00 PM

Brian Williams scored the go-ahead basket on a tip-in with 32 seconds left, and J.P. Prince was relentless on Turner, blocking a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer Friday night to lead Tennessee past Ohio State 76-73 at St. Louis and into the NCAA tournament's round of eight for the first time.

MIDWEST

Ohio State has one of the best players in the country in Evan Turner. Tennessee has what seems like an endless supply of nasty, stingy defenders.

No secret who's going to win that battle.

"I was tired," Prince said. "I just said I'll save it all for defense. That's all I did. I know those last two minutes I was going to make them work. I knew nobody wanted it more than I did."

Wayne Chism finished with 22 points - all but four in the second half - and 11 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Volunteers (28-8), who pulled out a back-and-forth tussle in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Turner, a candidate to add national honors to his Big Ten player of the year award, carried the No. 2 seed Buckeyes single-handedly in the second half. He scored 21 of his 31 points in the final period, while the rest of the Buckeyes went just 3 of 16 from the field. He actually had two shots in the final 3 seconds, but he missed from deep in the left corner, then got the ball back. With Prince all over him, Turner's last shot from near the top of the key didn't even get to the rim.

As the Tennessee players celebrated, Turner walked off the court with his head bowed.

"I can't give a percentage right now," Turner said, his eyes red and his voice catching, when asked if he'll return to Ohio State for his senior year. "I really don't want to go out like this."

Few expected this from the Volunteers considering where they were on Jan. 1. Tyler Smith, their leading scorer last season, was dismissed from the team and Williams, Cameron Tatum and Melvin Goins were suspended after a gun and marijuana were found during a traffic stop.

But nine days later, Tennessee stunned then-No. 1 Kansas, and the Vols emerged as an even stronger team. Now, they're one win from the Final Four.

"It sounds real good, and we're livin' it up right now," Chism said.

Tennessee will play fifth-seeded Michigan State on Sunday in the Midwest Regional final.

For the Buckeyes, it's an opportunity lost. No one appeared to benefit more than Ohio State (29-8) when No. 1 overall seed Kansas was upset by Northern Iowa in the second round.

Add in third-seeded Georgetown's first-round loss and fourth-seeded Maryland's loss last weekend, and Ohio State had what looked like a clear path to its second Final Four in four years.

To get there, though, the Buckeyes needed more than Turner. William Buford (15) was the only other scorer in double figures. Jon Diebler, so big for Ohio State in the first two rounds, shot 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

"Obviously, it hasn't hit me to the point where I think it's over," coach Thad Matta said. "They're distraught because this isn't where they thought it was going to end."

Ohio State had won four of its previous five meetings against Tennessee, including a matchup in the 2007 regional semifinals. But these Buckeyes are far different from that squad, which featured an NBA-caliber roster that included Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook.

These Buckeyes do have Turner. But it's a game of 5-on-5, not 1-on-5.

"I told our team, 'It's our team vs. their six,"' Volunteers coach Bruce Pearl said. "We were a better 10 than their six."

Michigan State 59, Northern Iowa 52: At St. Louis, Durrell Summers scored 19 points and Korie Lucious hit a whirling turnaround jumper with about 90 seconds left, helping the fifth-seeded Spartans survive a scare with a win over pesky Northern Iowa in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Playing without injured star Kalin Lucas, Michigan State (27-8) needed a half to get used to Northern Iowa’s grinding style and held the Panthers to 10 free throws and no field goals over the final 10:22 to send the heroes of the Heartland home empty-handed.

Northern Iowa (30-5) knocked off one March monster but couldn’t make it two straight, unable to contain the athletic Spartans for an entire game after stunning top-seeded Kansas in the second round.

Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh, the early-round hero, was just 1 for 6 from 3-point range.

Duke 70, Purdue 57: At Houston, Kyle Singler scored 24 points and Jon Scheyer added 18, snapping out of a shooting slump just in time to help top-seeded Duke advance to the round of eight for the first time since 2004 with a win over Purdue (29-6).

Scheyer, Duke’s leading scorer, was 5 for 18 from the field in Duke’s first two NCAA tournament games. He went 5 for 9 in the second half after missing his first six shots and also went 7 for 8 from the free-throw line.

Nolan Smith scored 15 points and Brian Zoubek grabbed 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils (32-5), who will face third-seeded Baylor in Sunday’s South regional final.

Baylor 72, Saint Mary’s 49: At Houston, LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter both made 3-pointers on their first shots and later combined for a highlight alley-oop dunk as Baylor rushed to a huge lead and romped past the Gaels (28-6) in the South Regional semifinals.

The Bears (28-7) led 46-17 at halftime and could begin looking ahead to Sunday, when they will play for a chance at their first Final Four since 1950, when there were only eight teams in the field.

Dunn scored 23 points with four 3-pointers and Carter added 14 points for Baylor. Dunn turned away with a wide smile after the teammates combined on their big dunk.

Omar Samhan finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels.