CHICAGO — Guard Michael Gbinije scored 20 points and forward Tyler Lydon blocked a shot in the final seconds as Syracuse rallied for a 63-60 win over Gonzaga on Friday night in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal at the United Center.
Guard Trevor Cooney scored 15 points for 10th-seeded Syracuse (22-13), which advanced to play top-seeded Virginia on Sunday in the regional final.
The Orange erased a nine-point deficit in the final seven minutes to move within one win of their sixth appearance in the Final Four.
Forward Kyle Wiltjer led Gonzaga with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field. Forward Domantas Sabonis had 19 points and 17 rebounds for 11th-seeded Gonzaga (28-8).
Syracuse grabbed a 61-60 lead with 22 seconds remaining after Gbinije followed his own missed shot and put back a layup.
Cooney attempted to steal a pass on Gonzaga’s next possession, but officials determined that he stepped on the baseline. Lydon blocked a shot by Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins with less than two seconds left and sealed the victory with two free throws.
Syracuse rallied from a nine-point deficit to pull within 59-58 with 2:18 to play. Cooney and Lydon made back-to-back layups to cap a 10-2 run.
Sabonis dominated in the low post as Gonzaga fought to preserve a second-half lead. The 6-foot-11 sophomore scored three straight baskets for the Bulldogs, including a layup to give Gonzaga a 57-48 lead with 6:30 remaining.
After a strong finish to the first half, Syracuse carried momentum into the second half to seize its first lead of the game.
Cooney made a layup to put Syracuse on top 30-29, and Gbinije added a layup and a jump shot to increase the lead to 34-29.
Gonzaga held on to a 29-28 halftime edge after leading by as many as 11 points during the first half. Syracuse finished the half with an 18-8 run and scored the final six points before the break.
The Bulldogs pulled ahead 21-10 after guard Josh Perkins drilled a 3-pointer with 10:16 remaining in the first half. Gbinije and forward Malachi Richardson led the comeback with two 3-pointers that sliced the deficit to 23-20 with 7:03 left in the half.
Hot shooting from beyond the arc helped Gonzaga to establish a 16-6 lead in the first five minutes. Wiltjer made three 3-pointers during the early run, which included a 3-pointer from senior guard Eric McClellan and a layup by Sabonis.
North Carolina 101, Indiana 86
PHILADELPHIA — North Carolina used a significant size and experience advantage inside to roll to a 101-86 win over Indiana in an East regional semifinal.
The Tar Heels (31-6), the top seed in the East region, face No. 6 Notre Dame on Sunday with a Final Four berth in Houston next weekend on the line.
After taking an 11-point lead into the half, North Carolina came out of the locker room determined to look for senior Brice Johnson and junior Kennedy Meeks. And when the two forwards weren’t able to get buckets, they were at the very least drawing fouls.
Indiana (27-8) committed seven team fouls in the first 3:56 of the second half, allowing UNC to get to the charity stripe 23 times after the break. The Tar Heels set a season high in makes (26) and were one shy in attempts (33).
With UNC headed to the line seemingly on every other possession, Indiana couldn’t find any momentum to make a comeback. The Hoosiers cut it to 10 several times early in the second half, the last of which came with 14:24 remaining.
North Carolina responded with an 8-2 run to push the lead back to 16, and never let it get closer than 14 from that point onward.
Johnson (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Meeks (15 points, nine boards) were two of five North Carolina players in double figures, the 16th time this season the Tar Heels have had a quintet get 10 or more. Senior guard Marcus Paige (21), sophomore forward Justin Jackson and sophomore guard Nate Berry II (14 apiece) all had their moments.
North Carolina shot 51.6 percent, hitting more than half its shots for the third time in the last four games.
Senior guard Yogi Ferrell led Indiana with 25 points in his final collegiate performance. Junior forward Troy Williams chipped in 21 for the Hoosiers, who shot 41 percent from the floor.
Paige was on fire early, helping North Carolina out to a 52-41 halftime lead.
He hit his first five shots from the floor, including four triples, while also dishing out four assists as he had in all but two of the Tar Heels’ first 11 buckets.
Two early fouls limited the star guard to 13 minutes in the first half, but even with him sidelined the Tar Heels were a force to be reckoned with. North Carolina shot 62.1 percent from the floor in the first half to hit the half-century mark in one half for the ninth time this season.
Indiana trailed by as many as 16 on multiple occasions over the opening 20 minutes before closing out the half on a five-point spurt to trail by 11 going into the locker rooms.
Notre Dame 61, Wisconsin 56
PHILADELPHIA — A steal and layup by Demetrius Jackson with 13 seconds left helped Notre Dame reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament with a thrilling 61-56 win over Wisconsin on Friday night.
The Fighting Irish won the East Regional semifinal with an 8-0 run in the final half-minute.
Wisconsin took a 56-53 lead with 26 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Vitto Brown, but Jackson wasn’t going to let that be the last big shot.
The Fighting Irish junior point guard cut the lead to one with a driving layup with 19 seconds left and then picked off the inbounds pass and put his team up one just seconds later.
Notre Dame forced three turnovers in the final 15 seconds, with foul shots by junior V.J. Beachem and Jackson sealing the win.
The Fighting Irish advanced to face No. 1 seed North Carolina in the East Regional championship on Sunday, with a Final Four berth in Houston next weekend on the line.
Beachem finished with 19 points and Jackson had 16 despite starting 1 of 10 from the floor. Senior Zach Auguste added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Irish.
For the first 30 minutes or so of the Sweet 16 matchup, defense ruled. Neither team reached 40 points until fewer than eight minutes remained as both struggled for long stretches to find any sort of offensive consistency.
Then, all of a sudden, the buckets started coming from both sides, and Notre Dame erased an eight-point deficit to take its first lead since three minutes into the first half at 38-37 with 8:50 left.
That set up a back-and-forth closing stretch, with neither team leading by more than five from that point.
Wisconsin got 14 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Ethan Happ, who fouled out with 47 seconds left after putting the Badgers up by two points. Junior Zak Showalter and senior Nigel Hayes added 11 points each.
Though the two teams traded buckets in the opening five minutes, both teams struggled offensively through much of the first half.
Notre Dame made four of its first 10 shots from the floor and then went cold, making one of its next 15. Wisconsin wasn’t much better, making only 2 of 11 during one stretch, as the teams combined to go 16 of 55 (29.9 percent) from the field during the opening 20 minutes.
Wisconsin led by as many as nine points with 5:03 left in the half as Notre Dame went nearly six minutes without a point. But then the Badgers went cold, missing their final four shots of the half and managing just one point in that time.
A Matt Farrell 3-pointer with under four minutes left helped Notre Dame recover and go into the break down 23-19.
Virginia 84, Iowa State 71
CHICAGO — Forward Anthony Gill had 23 points and eight rebounds and Virginia led wire to wire for a 84-71 win over Iowa State on Friday night in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal at the United Center.
Center Mike Tobey added 18 points and seven rebounds as top-seeded Virginia (29-7) advanced to the regional final against Syracuse. Guard Malcolm Brogdon and forward Isaiah Wilkins scored 12 points apiece for Virginia, which moved within one win of its first Final Four appearance since 1984.
Fourth-seeded Iowa State (23-12) lost in the regional semifinal for the second time in the past three seasons. The Cyclones fell behind by 17 points in the first half and never recovered.
Senior guard Georges Niang led the Cyclones with 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field. Guard Matt Thomas added 12 points.
The Cavaliers turned to the low-post presence of Tobey and Gill after Iowa State climbed within seven points early in the second half.
Tobey grabbed an offensive rebound and put back a layup after a missed 3-pointer by guard Marial Shayok to increase the Virginia lead to 15 with 9:09 to go. Gill mimicked Tobey with an offensive rebound and putback layup less than two minutes later to make it 67-53.
Virginia pulled away late behind back-to-back dunks from Gill and Wilkins.
Iowa State opened the second half on a 13-6 run to trim Virginia’s lead to 51-44 with 14:05 to play.
Niang spun toward the rim for two layups during the run. Senior forward Jameel McKay threw down a two-handed dunk to pull the Cyclones within single digits.
Virginia built a 45-31 lead at halftime after making 17 of 28 shots from the field (60.7 percent) in the first 20 minutes.
Iowa State trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half before going on an 11-4 run to pull within 41-31. Niang made 3 of 5 shots from beyond the arc to keep Iowa State in contention.
Iowa State struggled defensively as Virginia made eight of its first 12 shots from the field.
Sophomore guard Darius Thompson flipped a behind-the-back pass to Wilkins for a fast-break layup that increased the Cavaliers’ lead to 26-9.
Iowa State responded with two 3-pointers from Thomas and forward Abdel Nader to cut the deficit to 14 with 8:49 remaining in the first half.
Virginia jumped to a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes. Guard London Perrantes fired a pass from beyond the arc to Brogdon for an open layup. Two possessions later, Perrantes hit a 3-pointer that bounced high off the back of the rim and dropped through the net to put the Cavaliers up by double digits.
NOTES: Iowa State G Matt Thomas made at least one 3-pointer for the 25th consecutive game. … Virginia F Anthony Gill remained in the game despite losing his balance and falling hard on his back late in the first half. … Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg visited with his former Iowa State players this week. Hoiberg led the Cyclones for five years before leaving in June for the NBA. “I think the biggest thing he told us was enjoy the moment,” G Georges Niang said. … Virginia and Iowa State met for the fourth time overall and the first time since 2010.