DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Lucky Duke survives after UCF misses twice at buzzer
COLUMBIA, S.C. >> Zion Williamson took on 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall at the end and won, and top-seeded Duke survived when two lastditch shots by UCF rolled off the rim.
Aubrey Dawkins finished with 32 points, but his tipin try just missed Sunday, and Duke advanced with a 77-76 victory to reach the Sweet 16.
Williamson had 32 points, including a layup over Fall with 14.4 seconds left and his team trailing 76-73. Williamson was fouled and missed the free throw, but RJ Barrett scored on a putback to put Blue Devils (315) ahead.
Ninth-seeded UCF (249) had a final chance, but B.J. Taylor missed a short jumper and Dawkins failed on his tip attempt with less than 2 seconds left. Duke got the rebound, ran out the clock and moved on to the Sweet 16 for 27th time and fourth time in the past five years.
Dawkins cringed at the miss. His father, Johnny, is the UCF coach and was a former Duke star and longtime assistant under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Barrett finished with 16 points.
It looked as if Dawkins might take down his dad’s alma mater in the NCAAs.
His last basket broke a 70all tie and when Fall dunked Taylor’s miss — the play was reviewed for a possible shot-clock violation — the Knights were ahead 74-70.
UCF missed a huge chance to go up six when it couldn’t quite on an alley-oop dunk attempt with 1:49 left, and Cam Reddish came back with a 3-pointer for Duke. Taylor made 76-73 with two foul shots with 45 seconds to go.
Williamson then missed a 3, but Duke grabbed the rebound and got the ball back to their dominant freshman. Williams caught a pass left of the key and dribbled straight into Fall’s 7-6, 310-pound frame.
Fall had stuffed Williamson three previous times and Duke’s young star was less effective underneath than he’d been his past four games. But Williamson got this shot to drop, shouting as he fell hard to the ground.
When Duke dribbled away with the final rebound, Williamson and his teammates jumped in celebration and relief. They were moving on.
TENNESSEE 83, IOWA 77 COLUMBUS, OHIO >> Two-time SEC player of the year Grant Williams scored six points in overtime and Tennessee held off Iowa to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in three years.
Williams had a pair of free throws, two jumpers, and a strip in overtime that helped the Vols (31-5) pull it out and match their school record for wins in a season. He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Admiral Schofield scored 17 of his 19 in the Vols’ blistering first half.
Tenth-seeded Iowa (2312) fell behind by 25 points and nearly pulled off a monumental upset, sending it to overtime tied at 71, the first overtime game in this year’s tournament.
Jordan Bohannon scored 18 for Iowa, which never led but managed to tie it twice after falling so far behind. NORTH CAROLINA 81, WASHINGTON 59 COLUMBUS, OHIO >> Luke Maye and Nassir Little each scored 20 points and top-seeded North Carolina breezed into the Sweet 16, beating Washington.
The Tar Heels (29-6) never trailed and moved on to face fifth-seeded Auburn on Friday in a Midwest Regional semifinal.
Maye added 14 rebounds for North Carolina, a No. 1 seed for a record 17th time.
The Tar Heels committed 10 turnovers in the first half, and led by eight points at the break. But they bolted out in the second half, put together a 13-0 run over 5 minutes and pulled away.
Pac-12 player of the year Jaylen Nowell paced Washington (28-8) with 12 points. TEXAS TECH 78, BUFFALO 58 TULSA, OKLA. >> Texas Tech dominated the second half and cruised to a win over Buffalo in a second-round West Region game.
Jarrett Culver had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Norense Odiase added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the third-seeded Red Raiders (28-6). They advance to play No. 2 seed Michigan in the Sweet 16.
Nick Perkins had 17 points and 10 rebounds and CJ Massinburg added 14 points for sixth-seeded Buffalo (32-4), which had its 13-game win streak snapped.
Tech had two big runs in the first half and dominated in the second. Buffalo didn’t score its first field goal in the second half until more than seven minutes in.