Barnes scores 5 in OT, NCarolina beats Ohio 73-65

ST. LOUIS (AP)—The last of the little guys gave North Carolina a massive scare.

Harrison Barnes scored five of his 12 points in overtime and the top-seeded Tar Heels escaped a huge upset with a 73-65 victory over No. 13 seed Ohio on Friday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Ohio, trying to become the first team seeded 13th or worse to make the regional finals since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, had a chance to convert a three-point play that would have given the Bobcats the lead with 25 seconds left in regulation. Walter Offutt missed from the line, however, and Ohio went 0 for 6 from the field in the first overtime of this year’s tournament.

“One free throw away,” Offutt said. “As a leader on this team, I take responsibility that I’ve got to hit that free throw. … It just feels terrible to kind of let my team down in that sort of way.”

Tyler Zeller finished with 20 points and a career-high 22 rebounds for North Carolina, which sorely missed injured point guard Kendall Marshall. The Tar Heels had three players with double-doubles for the first time in an NCAA tournament game: Reggie Bullock had 17 points and 10 boards, and John Henson had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman guard Stilman White was an impressive fill-in for Marshall, dishing out six assists without a single turnover and playing 32 minutes—almost three times his previous high.

“We feel like we got away with one,” Zeller said. “Ohio played the better game, they hit a lot of shots. I think we just were able to make a lot of plays at the end that made us capable of pulling it out.”

Offutt led the Bobcats (29-8) with 26 points, including 18 from 3-point range, and Nick Kellogg added 14. But D.J. Cooper, who averaged 20 points in Ohio’s first two tournament games, finished with just 10 on 3-of-20 shooting.

“I’ve been getting those same shots all tournament,” Cooper said. “I’ve been making them, and tonight I just didn’t get the job done.”

North Carolina (32-5), which has won 11 straight in the regional semifinals, plays Kansas on Sunday afternoon for a trip to the Final Four. The Jayhawks beat North Carolina State 60-57.

“It means a heck of a lot,” coach Roy Williams said moments after his team escaped, “but we’ve got to play better than we did today.”

That’s for sure—especially since the Tar Heels are unlikely to have Marshall, perhaps their most irreplaceable player and the steadying hand behind their fast-paced attack. The left-handed guard broke his right wrist Sunday when he was fouled on a drive against Creighton. He had surgery Monday to put a screw in the wrist and got his cast off Wednesday.

Though Marshall said the wrist is improving, he didn’t even dress Friday night, sitting on the bench in a suit.

“He still hasn’t done anything,” Williams said when asked about the prospects of Marshall returning Sunday. “But North Carolina’s going to play on Sunday. We’re happy about that.”

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BYU's record comeback beats Iona, 78-72

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron saw a huge comeback.

Had they stuck around a little longer, they could have watched the biggest one in NCAA tournament history.

Noah Hartsock scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars came back from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round Tuesday night.

It marked the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game, the NCAA said. Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the 2001 national semifinals.

Hartsock was a little hurt that the president wasn't around to see the fireworks in the nightcap.

``I started looking around and didn't see him,'' Hartsock said with a grin. ``But I'm sure he had some important things to take care of.''

It was the second incredible turnaround of the night in Dayton. With the two heads of state watching from front-row seats on the baseline, Western Kentucky came back from a 16-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58 in the first game.

That was the biggest margin overcome by a team in the final 5 minutes to win an NCAA tournament game, the NCAA said.

No matter how far they fell behind, BYU and coach Dave Rose had faith that the Cougars could somehow come back.

``Coming back from 25 points down is really satisfying now that we've won. At the time it wasn't that satisfying being down 25,'' he joked. ``But I don't think that any of us, especially the coaching staff or our players, doubted the fact that we could chip into that lead.''

Brandon Davies added 18 points and Damarcus Harrison 12 for the 14th-seeded Cougars (26-8), who advanced to play third-seeded Marquette on Thursday in Louisville, Ky.

There was no consolation for Iona.

``It's going to be one that we have to live with the rest of our lives,'' Gaels coach Tim Cluess said. ``It's a tough one we let get away. No excuses.''

Iona (25-8) seemed assured of its first official NCAA tournament victory after dominating the first half. But despite 15 points and 10 assists by Scott Machado, the Gaels dropped to 0-8 in NCAA play. Their lone win in 1980 was vacated due to NCAA violations.

Iona came in as the nation's top-scoring team at 83.2 points per game and didn't disappoint - at least in the opening 16 minutes. The Gaels scored 55 points in an eye-popping display of passing wizardry and outside shooting. Then they didn't score over the final 4:30 of the first half.

BYU then took control, slowly but surely. The Cougars held the Gaels without a point for 9:20 in a 17-0 run to narrow the deficit to 62-61 midway through the second half. BYU made up ground with a trapping half-court defense that forced the Gaels out of their hurry-up-and-shoot-3s attack. At the other end, the Cougars were getting buckets from Hartsock on fallaway jumpers.

``We just were more aggressive,'' Cougars guard Brock Zylstra said. ``We were doing to them what they were doing to us in the first half.''

Iona scored 55 points in the first 16 minutes, then managed just three field goals and seven points over the next 16 1/2 minutes.

Jermel Jenkins ended the lengthy drought with a 3 from the left corner with 8 minutes left.

From there on, the teams traded baskets as the pace slowed. Machado's three-point play pushed the lead to 70-64 with 5 minutes remaining before Hartsock hit an outside shot. After two missed foul shots by the Gaels, he hit another short turnaround jumper to cut the lead to two.

With 2:26 left, Hartsock popped out on the right wing to hit a go-ahead 3. It was the Cougars' first lead of the game.

``This is a team that's worked hard all year, that's never given up,'' Hartsock said.

Davies added two free throws in the final minute before Zylstra scored in transition and turned it into a three-point play, and the comeback was complete.

It was a shocking turn of events because of how well the Gaels - who also got 13 points from Jenkins, 12 from Mike Glover and 10 by Sean Armand - started out.

``You're looking for answers out there, looking for guys to make a play,'' Cluess said. ``Their good player is drilling it with guys in his face and guys draped all over him. Big-time players have to make big-time plays.''

Rose, a co-captain for the old Phi Slamma Jamma teams at Houston, has tasted disappointment before. But not this night.

During a timeout in the middle of the comeback, he saw something he'll never forget.

``The look in our players' eyes at that time was, `Game on. We've got a chance here,''' Rose said. ``And we were able to finish it off.''

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