Soto, Cardoso head 20-man U.S. Olympic qualifying roster

Norwich forward Sebastian Soto and midfielders Johnny Cardoso of Internacional, Ulysses Llanez of Heerenveen and Sebastian Saucedo of Pumas headed a 20-man U.S. roster announced Thursday for the delayed qualifying for the Olympic men’s soccer tournament.

Sixteen players are from MLS, a reflection of FIFA rules that do not require teams to release players for the Olympics, which this year is limited to players 24 years old and under.

Among the top U.S. players not included were Christian Pulisic, Weston Mckennie, Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna, Josh Sargent, Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson.

Reece Beekman hadn’t made a shot all afternoon for 16th-ranked Virginia when the ball swung his way in the final seconds of a tie game.

The freshman didn’t hesitate.

Beekman buried a 3-pointer as time expired to help the Cavaliers edge Syracuse 72-69 in Thursday’s quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Greensboro, N.C., a shot that sent Beekman and his teammates sprinting around the court in celebration.

The Cavaliers advanced to today’s semifinals and will face Georgia Tech.

Beekman was 0 for 5 from the field when Kihei Clark penetrated to the left elbow and then zipped the ball to Beekman waiting on the right wing. He launched a confident catch-and-shoot 3 with the horn sounding as the ball hit the high point of its arc before dropping cleanly through the net for the topseeded Cavaliers (18-6).

“I was just thinking: It’s a big shot,” Beekman said. “My coaches, everybody believed in me, so they wouldn’t have me out there for no reason.”

Almost immediately, the 6-foot-3 guard started sprinting toward the other end of the court with his teammates pursuing him at full speed. They finally caught up with him and gathered at the far baseline near the Syracuse bench to celebrate.

“That’s what March is,” said teammate Sam Hauser, who confidently raised his arms signaling the 3 would be good as Beekman launched the winner.

Yet that confidence belied the fact that Beekman had made only 8 of 31 3s (25.8%) all season entering Thursday.

“Beekman’s the one guy we want to shoot it there,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We don’t want to give anybody a shot, but he’s the one guy we want to shoot it. ... That’s the way it goes. He knocked it down.”

Buddy Boeheim finished with a career-high 31 points for the eighth-seeded Orange (16-9), a day after he scored 27 points in Syracuse’s tournament opener. He nearly lifted the Orange to another win to help their NCAA Tournament chances.

Hauser scored 21 points to lead Virginia, while Trey Murphy III added 15 points.

Kentucky bounced

Kentucky’s season ended with a missed last-second shot in the SEC Tournament.

But things began spiraling downward for the Wildcats long before Thursday’s disappointing 74-73 setback against Mississippi State that sealed their fate: no NCAA Tournament this year.

When the Bulldogs’ Iverson Molinar made two free throws with seven seconds left, it assured the Wildcats (9-16) will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and just the second in John Calipari’s 12-year tenure in Lexington.

With Duke withdrawing from the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test, it will be the first time since 1976 that both the Blue Devils and Kentucky will not be at the Big Dance.

Digesting the reality and enduring a losing season at college basketball’s winningest program will make for a long offseason for the Wildcats.

“We were a couple of wins away from being a team, even with a bad record, we were right there,” Calipari said of Kentucky’s NCAA prospects. “But at the end of the day, you’ve gotta win games and you’ve gotta be tough and you’ve got to play winning basketball . ... We were never able to get fully engaged in that.”

Molinar scored eight of his 21 points in the final 3:07 to erase a five-point deficit and help Mississippi State hold off Kentucky in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Mississippi State (15-13) advances to face top-seeded and No. 6 ranked Alabama today. The Bulldogs lost both of their regular-season meetings.

Gators nip Vandy

Tre Mann scored 22 points, and Florida held off Vanderbilt 69-63 Thursday to advance to the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

The fifth-seeded Gators (14-8) snapped a two-game skid coming into the tournament, and they will play No. 4 seed Tennessee today for the second game between the teams in six days.

Noah Locke scored 13 points for Florida, and Tyree Appleby added 12 off the bench.

Vanderbilt (9-16) lost to Florida for the third time this season and sixth straight in this series.

Scotty Pippen Jr. led the Commodores with 23 points, making all 10 free throws. D.J. Harvey and Trey Thomas each had 12 points.

Pippen pulled Vanderbilt within 64-63 with a pair of free throws with 1:40 left. But Mann hit a jumper with 53 seconds to go, and Thomas missed a 3 for Vandy with 31 seconds remaining as the Gators held on.