Late 3-pointer puts Ohio St. in West final

LaQuinton Ross made a tiebreaking three-pointer with two seconds left, and second-seeded Ohio State advanced to the brink of its second consecutive Final Four appearance with a 73-70 victory Thursday against sixth-seeded Arizona in the West Regional semifinals in Los Angeles.

Ross scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half for the Buckeyes (29-7), who rallied from an early 11-point deficit and weathered the Wildcats’ late charge for their 11th consecutive victory since mid-February. Ohio State will face Wichita State in the regional final Saturday.

After Mark Lyons’ acrobatic three-point play pulled Arizona (27-8) even at 70 with 21.8 seconds left, Buckeyes point guard Aaron Craft dribbled down the clock before passing the ball to Ross, who coolly made the three-pointer to set off a wild celebration in the Ohio State section of the Wildcats-dominated crowd.

Deshaun Thomas scored 20 points, Craft 13 and Sam Thompson 11 for the Buckeyes, who trailed for nearly the entire first half before pushing ahead and nursing a small lead throughout the final minutes.

Lyons scored 23 points for Arizona, which rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half before falling just short of its second NCAA regional final in four years.

Wichita State 72, La Salle 58

Malcolm Armstead scored 18 points and Carl Hall 16, and the ninth-seeded Shockers (29-8) coasted past the 13th-seeded Explorers (24-10) in Los Angeles to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1981.