Men's Basketball Roundup | Arkansas is riding high

ATLANTA — Steven Hill made one basket the entire game. It might knock Tennessee out of a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs.

Hill hit a turnaround jumper with 5.3 seconds remaining for his only points and Arkansas knocked off fourth-ranked Tennessee 92-91 Saturday in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, a serious blow to the Volunteers' chances of claiming a top spot in one of the NCAA brackets.

"Wherever we're seeded," coach Bruce Pearl said defiantly, "we'll go play."

The Razorbacks (22-10) surely locked up an NCAA bid and advanced to face Georgia, which won twice Saturday, in today's championship game. Tennessee (29-4) claimed its first regular-season title in 41 years, then fell short of pulling off a double in the storm-plagued tournament.

The game was played before an estimated crowd of 2,000 at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where the final two days of the tournament were moved after a tornado ripped through the Georgia Dome during the quarterfinals Friday night.

The teams went back-and-forth the entire game, the last five of 17 lead changes coming in the final three minutes. JuJuan Smith dumped in a layup with 23 seconds left to put Tennessee ahead 91-90, and the Vols called a 30-second timeout to set up their defense.

Trying to create something off the dribble, Gary Ervin nearly slipped to ruin Arkansas' final chance. But the guard kept his footing and worked the ball inside to Hill, a bearded, 7-foot senior who had missed his lone shot of the game. Working down low, he caught the pass along the baseline, calmly turned and sank the winning basket from about six feet over Wayne Chism.

"I obviously did not expect to take that shot," Hill said. "Or any other shot that late in the game."

Clemson beats Duke, ends ACC misery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clemson's dubious basketball history has drawn chuckles for years, and the depth of its futility — try 0-53 at North Carolina — is difficult to comprehend.

Well, this Clemson team is starting to shed the image that it's a football school in a basketball league.

The Tigers stunned No. 7 Duke 78-74 to advance to their first Atlantic Coast Conference final in 46 years. Clemson had lost 22 consecutive games to the Blue Devils (27-5) and is the only charter member of the ACC to never win the league tournament title.

Trevor Booker scored 18 points and Cliff Hammonds added 17 for the third-seeded Tigers (24-8), who hadn't beaten the Blue Devils since 1997.

Clemson pulled away in the second half to spoil a much more familiar North Carolina-Duke rematch in the championship. Instead the Tigers will get a shot at the top-ranked Tar Heels today.

Other games

No. 1 North Carolina 68,

Virginia Tech 66

Tyler Hansbrough (26 points) hit a fadeaway jumper off an offensive rebound with 0.8 seconds left to help North Carolina (31-2) to a win over the Hokies (19-13) in the ACC tournament semifinals in Charlotte, N.C.

No. 2 Memphis 77, Tulsa 51

Antonio Anderson scored 19 points, and host Memphis (33-1) beat Tulsa (20-13) to add a third straight Conference USA tournament championship to the Tigers' third consecutive regular-season title.

No. 5 Kansas 77, Texas A&M 71

In Kansas City, Mo., Kansas' Brandon Rush scored a career-high 28 points in front of his hometown fans. The two-time defending champion Jayhawks (30-3) will meet No. 6 Texas today for the Big 12 championship for the third year in a row. Bryan Davis had 16 points for the Aggies (24-10).

No. 6 Texas 77, Oklahoma 49

A.J. Abrams of the Longhorns (28-5) broke out of a shooting slump with seven three-pointers and 24 points in Kansas City, Mo., to lead a blowout of Oklahoma (22-11).

No. 8 Wisconsin 65,

No. 19 Michigan State 63

In Indianapolis, Brian Butch scored 19, Marcus Landry added 18 and Joe Krabbenhoft had 11 points and 10 rebounds as Wisconsin held off foul-challenged Michigan State (25-8) and earned its second straight trip to the Big Ten tournament title game. Wisconsin (28-4) will play Illinois, which beat Minnesota 54-50.

Pittsburgh 74,

No. 9 Georgetown 65

Ronald Ramon scored 17 points and Pittsburgh (26-9) won its second Big East tournament championship in its eighth title-game appearance, beating top-seeded Georgetown (26-9) in New York.

UNLV 76, No. 24 BYU 61

Host UNLV (26-7) upset top-seeded Brigham Young (27-7) in the Mountain West Conference championship for the second straight season.

Temple 69, Saint Joseph's 64

In Atlantic City, N.J., Dionte Christmas scored 22 points and Temple (21-12) earned its first NCAA tournament bid since 2001 with a victory over its archrival Saint Joseph's (21-12) in the championship of the Atlantic-10 tournament.

Kent State 74, Akron 55

In Cleveland, Haminn Quaintance scored 16 points and Kent State (28-6) crowned a dominant conference season by beating bitter rival Akron (23-10) in the Mid-American tournament championship.

UMBC 82, Hartford 65

Darryl Proctor scored 23 points to help Maryland-Baltimore County earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament with a win in the America East championship game in Catonsville, Md. UMBC (24-8) was making its first trip to a championship game since starting Division I play in 1986. The Retrievers, who won the America East regular-season title, also set a school record for victories with the win.

Coppin State 62,

Morgan State 60

Tywain McKee's driving layup with two seconds left helped Coppin State (16-20) upset top-seeded Morgan State (22-10) in the Mid-Eastern Athletic championship in Raleigh, N.C.

MVSU 59, Jackson State 58

Carl Lucas made two free throws with 0.4 seconds left and Mississippi Valley State (17-15) defeated Jackson State (13-20) to win the Southwestern Athletic tournament.

Boise St. 107,

New Mexico St. 102 (3OT)

In Las Cruces, N.M., Reggie Larry scored 31 points and Boise State (25-8) ended a 14-year NCAA drought, outlasting New Mexico State (21-14) for the Western Athletic tournament title in a triple-overtime thriller. Matt Nelson added 26 points and Tyler Tiedeman had 17 to help the Broncos return to the NCAAs for the first time since 1994, when they won the Big Sky tourney but lost to Louisville in the first round.

Cal State Fullerton 81,

UC Irvine 66

In Anaheim, Calif., Josh Akognon had 23 points and Scott Cutley had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Titans (24-8) past the Anteaters (18-16) for the Big West tournament title and their first NCAA tournament berth since 1978.

Note

• Tim Welsh was fired as Providence's coach. He spent 10 years at the Big East school and had one year left on his contract. His team went 15-16 this season. Welsh led Providence to the NCAA tournament in 2001 and 2004, and was 160-143.