Aaron Craft added 11 points — all in the second half — with five assists and six steals, taking charge during a 17-1 second-half run that turned a four-point deficit into a double-digit lead.
Cashmere Wright scored 18 and Sean Kilpatrick had 15 for the Bearcats, who were attempting to match Big East rival Syracuse by beating a Big Ten opponent to advance to the round of eight. The top-seeded Orange advanced earlier tonight by beating fourth-seeded Wisconsin at the TD Garden.
It’s the first trip to the regional finals for Ohio State (30-7) since 2007, when it lost in the national championship game to Florida.
Syracuse 64, Wisconsin 63
BOSTON — C.J. Fair broke out of a scoring slump with 15 points and top-seeded Syracuse held on for a 64-63 victory over fourth-seeded Wisconsin tonight in the East Regional semifinals.
The Badgers had two shots at the win after Kris Joseph, a 75% free-throw shooter, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 18.9 seconds left and the Orange leading by a point. Jordan Taylor came down and missed a three-pointer with 3 seconds left and Mike Bruesewitz’s toss with the rebound was off, at the buzzer.
Scoop Jardine added 14 points for the Orange (34-2), who advance to play Ohio State in the regional final Saturday.
Taylor and Jared Berggren both had 17 points for the Badgers (26-10). Wisconsin, which made 14 3-pointers in the game, missed its last five from beyond the arc after hitting six straight during one stretch of the second half.
Florida 68, Marquette 58
PHOENIX — Bradley Beal scored 21 points tonight to lift Florida to a 68-58 victory over Marquette and set up Gators coach Billy Donovan with a meeting against his old boss, Rick Pitino, in the West Regional final.
The seventh-seeded Gators (26-10) expanded a six-point halftime lead to double digits, then held off third-seeded Marquette (27-8) to take their second straight trip to the regional final. Last year, they lost to Butler. This time, they meet Louisville and Pitino.
Beal, a freshman who has NBA written all over him, shot 8 for 10 and had six rebounds and four assists. Marquette got 15 points from Jae Crowder and 14 from fellow senior Darius Johnson-Odom, but the Golden Eagles exited the tournament in the round of 16 for the second straight year.
-freep
