NCAA semifinals
Marquette ends season for Pitt MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Not since the days of Al McGuire has Marquette made it this far.
Dwyane Wade scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the third-seeded Golden Eagles to a 77-74 victory over second-seeded Pittsburgh on Thursday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals at the Metrodome.
Chevon Troutman scored seven of his 15 points in the final 2:56 to lead a furious Panthers rally, but Marquette hung on as Pittsburgh was eliminated in the round of 16 for the second straight season.
The lovable coach McGuire led Marquette to the 1977 national title, and the Golden Eagles hadn’t been to a regional final since.
Marquette (26-5) will play top-seeded Kentucky on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in New Orleans. The Wildcats beat Wisconsin 63-57 earlier.
Brandin Knight led Pittsburgh (28-5) with 16 points. His 3-point attempt with about three seconds to go could have tied it, but he came up short.
Travis Diener, who scored 55 points in the Golden Eagles’ first two victories over Holy Cross and Missouri, was held to four points on 2-for-8 shooting.
Trailing by 10 with 3:56 to go, the Panthers scored nine straight points to pull to 71-70 with 1:17 to go.
Robert Jackson was called for traveling on the baseline with 2:20 remaining, and Troutman was fouled on an acrobatic layup at the other end and he completed the three-point play to make it 71-68.
Wade missed a one-handed jumper, and Troutman’s layup pulled Pitt within one with 1:17 on the clock.
Scott Merritt – who had 17 points – made a pair of free throws to put Marquette up 73-70, and Knight’s layup cut the lead back to one.
But Wade, with the shot clock running down, drove the lane and sank a layup high off the glass to make it 75-72 with 23.4 seconds remaining.
Knight – a 53 percent free-throw shooter for his career – made two foul shots to cut the lead to 75-74.
Merritt hit a pair of free throws on the other end, bumping it back to 77-74 with 11.4 seconds remaining.
Knight dribbled down the floor, pump-faked Wade in the air and launched a 3, but it banged off the rim. Todd Townsend grabbed the rebound passed to Diener, who was fouled.
Diener missed both foul shots with 2.3 seconds left, but Carl Krauser’s half-court attempt at the buzzer sailed over the basket as gold-clad Marquette students stormed the court.
Kentucky 63, Wisconsin 57
MINNEAPOLIS – With Keith Bogans watching helplessly from the bench in the second half, Kentucky turned to the power of Marquis Estill to ward off Wisconsin.
Arizona 88, Notre Dame 71
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Arizona took all the drama out of this one early.
After beating Gonzaga by one point in a double-overtime classic, the top-seeded Wildcats rolled right over Notre Dame to advance to the West Regional final.
Kansas 69, Duke 65
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Nick Collison scored a career-high 33 points and had 19 rebounds to lead Kansas to a victory over Duke in the semifinals of the West Regional.
A 6-foot-9 senior, Collison scored seven straight points to give second-seeded Kansas a 63-57 lead with 5:41 remaining, and the Jayhawks were on top the rest of the way.
Kansas (28-7) will face Arizona on Saturday with the winner going to the Final Four. The top-seeded Wildcats (28-3) beat fifth-seeded Notre Dame 88-71 earlier Thursday at Anaheim Arena.
Williams, in his 15th year as coach of the Jayhawks, was 0-3 in matchups with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, including a 72-65 defeat in the national championship game 12 years ago.
Midwest