Ohio St. hangs on while Louisville rallys to enter the Final 4

Jared Sullinger recovered from first-half foul trouble to score 19 points and grab seven rebounds to help the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes beat the #1 Syracuse Orange, 77-70 in the East regional final to advance to the Final Four in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Deshaun Thomas scored 14 points with nine rebounds for Ohio State (31-7), who led by eight points with 59 seconds to play and held on after the Orange cut it to three. The Buckeyes made 13-of-14 free throws in the final 68 seconds and 31-of-42 from the line in all.




Freshman forward Chane Behanan made the go-ahead basket with 1:06 left in the game as head coach Rick Pitino’s 4th-seeded Louisville Cardinals outscored the #7 Florida Gators by 15 points over the final 10 minutes for a 72-68 victory in the West regional final.

Russ Smith, who finished with 19 points, followed Behanan’s bucket with a pair of free throws and then Florida freshman Bradley Beal & teammate Kenny Boynton each missed chances to tie in the final seconds.