Syracuse completes storybook ending

Syracuse won the Big East championship. It was Gerry McNamara’s tournament.

The Orange repeated as conference champions by beating No. 15 Pittsburgh 65-61 on Saturday night in New York. It was the first time in their record four victories they didn’t need late-game heroics from the senior guard.

It was sophomore Josh Wright who clinched the title win, making four free throws in the final 17 seconds.

But it was still McNamara’s tournament.

“Gerry had as good a four games here as anybody I’ve ever seen,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He just wanted to win.”

Syracuse became the lowest-seeded team to win the Big East tournament – the Orange came in at No. 9 – and the third school to repeat, joining Georgetown in 1985 and Connecticut in 1999.

The Orange (23-11) arrived in New York this week with its chances of claiming an at-large NCAA tournament berth as on the bubble as a team can get. They are leaving with an automatic bid and a folk hero.

“For us to come down here in the situation we were in and win is impressive,” McNamara said. “We won it so I guess I was pretty motivated – we all were. This is the toughest year I’ve played and for us to battle the way we did and win this, like Coach said it’s one of the greatest. We won it last year, but it was a different story. We were a team that had a great regular season and we had a team that was experienced, and this year we were new and we came down here and got it going.”

McNamara, who was as obvious an MVP selection as any tournament has had, won the first-round game against Cincinnati with a 3-pointer with less than a second to play. He tied the quarterfinal game against top-ranked Connecticut with 5 seconds left in regulation and the Orange won in overtime.

In the semifinal win over No. 23 Georgetown, he hit a late 3 to bring the Orange within one, then made the pass on the winning basket and forced a turnover on the Hoyas’ final possession.

In the championship game win over Pittsburgh (24-7), he had 14 points and six assists.

He also had three 3-pointers, giving him a tourney-record 16.

ACC

(3) Duke 78, Wake Forest 66: Freshman Greg Paulus had a career-high 18 points, freshman Josh McRoberts added 13 and the Blue Devils (29-3) topped the Demon Deacons (17-16) in Greensboro, N.C., to advance to the title game against Boston College.

J.J. Redick scored 20 to lead Duke, while Eric Williams scored 23 and grabbed 12 rebounds for Wake Forest.

(11) Boston College 85, (10) North Carolina 82: Craig Smith had 23 points and 15 rebounds and the Eagles (26-6) shot 61 percent from the floor for the game en route to a win over the Tar Heels (22-7).

Tyler Hansbrough had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead North Carolina.

Big Ten

(7) Ohio St. 52, Indiana 51: J.J. Sullinger had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Mike Sylvester made a layup with 37.4 seconds left to lead the Buckeyes (25-4) past the Hoosiers (18-11) in Indianapolis and into the title game against Iowa.

Roderick Wilmont led Indiana with 16 points, but he missed a short jumper at the buzzer that would have won it.

(20) Iowa 53, Michigan St. 48: Jeff Horner scored 14 points and Greg Brunner added 12 to lead the Hawkeyes (24-8) past the Spartans (22-11).

Maurice Ager led Michigan State with 21 points. He was the only Michigan State player to make a field goal in the final 8 minutes.

Big 12

(8) Texas 74, Texas A&M 70: P.J. Tucker had a season-high 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Longhorns (27-5) to a win over the Aggies (21-8) in Dallas and into the title game against Kansas.

The Longhorns set a school record for victories.

(17) Kansas 79, Nebraska 65: Mario Chalmers had 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds to lead the Jayhawks (24-7) to an easy win over the Cornhuskers (19-12).

SEC

South Carolina 65, Kentucky 61: Tarence Kinsey scored 18 to lead the Gamecocks (18-14) into the title game for just the second time with a win over the Wildcats (21-12) in Nashville, Tenn. Next up for the Gamecocks is Florida.

The Wildcats entered the game with a 34-2 record in SEC semifinal games.

(16) Florida 81, (17) LSU 65: Taurean Green scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures, and the Gators (26-6) beat the Tigers (23-8) to advance to the title game for the third straight year.

Other NCAA qualifiers

Albany 80, Vermont 67: Jamar Wilson had 29 points and the Great Danes (21-10) ended the three-year America East Conference reign of Vermont, beating the Catamounts (13-17) in Albany, N.Y.

Xavier 62, Saint Joseph’s 61: Justin Doellman made two free throws with 5.1 seconds left, and the Musketeers (21-10) blocked Dwayne Lee’s last two shots, holding off the Hawks (18-13) in Cincinnati to win the Atlantic 10 Conference title.

Pacific 78, Long Beach State 70: Christian Maraker scored 23 and snagged 11 rebounds to power the Tigers (24-7) to a victory over the 49ers (18-12) in the Big West Conference title game in Anaheim, Calif.

(5) Memphis 57, (24) Alabama-Birmingham 46: Shawne Williams scored 18 points and Joey Dorsey had 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tigers (30-3) to the Conference USA title with a win over the Blazers (24-6) in Memphis, Tenn.

Kent State 71, Toledo 66: Kevin Warzynski scored 21 points to lead the Golden Flashes (25-8) to the Mid-American Conference tourney title with a win over the Rockets (20-11) in Cleveland.

Hampton 60, Delaware State 56: Jaz Cowan scored 15 to spark the Pirates (16-15) to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tourney title with a win over the Hornets (20-13) in Raleigh, N.C.

San Diego State 69, Wyoming 64 (OT): Brandon Heath scored six of his 22 points in the final 1:08 of overtime to help the Aztecs (24-8) fend off the Cowboys (14-18) in Denver in the Mountain West Conference title game.

Southern 57, Ark.-Pine Bluff 44: Peter Cipriano had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the Jaguars (18-12) won their first Southwestern Athletic Conference tourney title in 13 years with a win over the Golden Lions (12-15) in Birmingham, Ala.

(21) Nevada 70, Utah St. 63 (OT): Nick Fazekas had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Marcelus Kemp hit a key 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in overtime to lift the Wolf Pack (27-5) over the Aggies (23-8) in the Western Athletic Conference title game in Reno, Nev.