Tar Heels Wake Up In Time To Go To Elite 8

North Carolina didn’t look like the same team that had won 14 straight games until Antawn Jamison erased a sevenpoint second-half deficit by himself.

The top-seeded Tar Heels (27-6) beat California 63-57 Friday night in the East Regional semifinals to continue a comeback season.

The Tar Heels’ 15th consecutive victory moved them into the regional final for the 18th time. They will meet sixth-seeded Louisville, which beat No. 10 Texas 78-63, on Sunday with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

“I thought we woke up midway through the second half,” North Carolina coach Dean Smith said. “Antawn did give us a lift with his shots.”

Vince Carter, who scored the final five points of a 15-3 run that gave the Tar Heels the lead for good after Jamison scored the first 10, described his teammate’s play in glowing terms.

“It was amazing. He just gets the job done,” Carter said. “Every player on this team just didn’t give up. He really just put us on his back and carried us. He really got us some momentum, and everybody picked up from there.”

Fifth-seeded California (23-9) had used its size and an unexpected outside shooting source to take a 45-38 lead with 9:48 to play. The Bears were trying to keep alive an impressive run of their own as they had won four of five games since leading scorer and Pac-10 player of the year Ed Gray broke his foot.

Jamison, the team’s leading scorer at 19.2 points per game, scored 10 straight points for the Tar Heels and Carter, who injured his right groin in the second-round win over Colorado, had the last five in the run. Jamison’s alley-oop dunk on a pass by Ed Cota gave North Carolina the lead for good at 50-48 with 5:58 to play.

“I wasn’t ready to go home,” said Jamison, who was putting ice on his back after the game because of some twinges that weren’t considered serious. “I dug down deep.”

Jamison finished with 21 points, 15 in the second half. Carter had 14 and Shammond Williams 12, nine in the first half.

“He got a lot of baskets in transition and on the offensive glass,” California coach Ben Braun said of the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward. “He slipped inside the zone, and he’s so quick coming off screens. The minute you turn your back, he’s beat you.”

Randy Duck had 15 points for California, which was trying to reach the regional finals for the first time since playing in the national championship game in 1960.

Louisville 78, Texas 63

No DeJuan Wheat? No problem for the Louisville Cardinals.

With Louisville’s inspirational leader and leading scorer nursing a sprained left ankle, Alvin Sims and Damion Dantzler stepped up to lead Louisville into the East Regional final.

Louisville (26-8), the sixth seed, will now play North Carolina. Texas, the 10th seed, finished at 18-12.

Sims carried Louisville early, scoring 15 points in the first half as Wheat struggled to find his range. He never did, but it didn’t matter because Dantzler scored all 17 of his points after the break, a season high.

Sims finished with a career-high 25 points. Gabe Muoneke led the Longhorns with 19 points.

This was supposed to be a battle between the teams’ two stars, Wheat and Reggie Freeman of Texas. But Freeman finished his college career on a down, scoring a season-low six points after averaging 22.3 points a game for the season. Freeman scored 34 points in a game between the teams earlier in the season, won in overtime 85-78 by the Cardinals.

When Wheat went down with 15:52 left, Louisville led 44-43. When he returned moments later, Texas had regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Brandy Perryman and seemed set to take command on Gabe Muoneke’s dunk with 8:42 left, giving the Longhorns a 56-53 lead with 8:42 left.

But a Dantzler tip-in, a layup by Alex Sanders and a 3-pointer by Dantzler put Louisville ahead to stay. Wheat pulled a towel from his head and began to cheer, forgetting his sore, ice-covered ankle.

The Cardinals, led by Dantzler, stormed out after the break and regained the lead for the first time since midway through the first half. Dantzler, scoreless in the first half, scored six points and Sanders added five to key a 16-6 run. A baseline drive and dunk by Sims gave the Cardinals a 47-43 lead with 14:56 left.

If not for Sims, the Cardinals would have been in trouble early. He scored 13 of Louisville’s first 17 points to keep them in the game.