| West Regional: Xavier tops W.Va. in OT; UCLA holds on
Three-pointers saved Xavier. Missed free throws doomed West Virginia.
B.J. Raymond made two 3-pointers in the last 1:18 of overtime last night and the Musketeers advanced to the West Regional final with a 79-75 victory over coach Bob Huggins' Mountaineers.
Third-seeded Xavier (30-6) will seek its first Final Four appearance when it plays UCLA in the regional final tomorrow.
Raymond, who had made only one field goal all night, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 1:18 to play. He then shook loose on an inbounds play, took a crosscourt pass and made a 3 with the shot clock expiring with 30 seconds to go for a 78-74 lead.
Josh Duncan scored a career-high 26 points despite foul trouble to lead Xavier, which held an early 18-point lead.
Joe Alexander scored 18 and had 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers (26-11).
West Virginia missed four of six free throws in the overtime. Alexander missed one with 14.2 seconds left in regulation that would have given his team a 65-64 lead.
Xavier shot 11-for-19 on 3s while West Virginia was 1-for-11 from long range. The Mountaineers had only one worse performance on 3s this season, going 1-for-22 in a loss to Cincinnati.
Duncan was 3-of-4 on 3s, Lavender 3-of-6 and Raymond 2-of-4. Da'Sean Butler added 16 points, 14 in the second half. Alexander and Butler both fouled out in the overtime.
UCLA 88, Western Kentucky 78
PHOENIX — Nothing comes easy for UCLA these days.
With Kevin Love scoring a career-high 29 points, the Bruins nearly frittered away a 21-point halftime lead and hung on to defeat Western Kentucky in the West Regional semifinal.
Top-seeded UCLA (34-3) will play No. 3-seeded Xavier tomorrow for a trip to its third consecutive Final Four.
Love also had 14 rebounds. He hit 10-of-14 shots from the floor and helped rescue the Bruins for the second time in as many games.
Love wasn't the only Bruin to notch a double-double. James Keefe had 18 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs, and Russell Westbrook had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Tyrone Brazelton scored 31 points — 25 in the second half — and Courtney Lee added 18 for 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (29-7).
Early on, the Bruins bore little resemblance to the bunch that sweated out a two-point victory over Texas A&M in the second round, blitzing the Hilltoppers with a 23-4 run midway through the first half.
UCLA led 41-20 at halftime, but Western Kentucky wouldn't go away. The Hilltoppers began pressing, and the Bruins started to unravel.
They had 12 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
Taking advantage of sloppy play by the Bruins, the Hilltoppers went on a 19-6 run to whittle the lead to 61-57 with 6:50 to play.
Tyrone Brazelton capped the run by scoring eight unanswered points in less than a minute, on back-to-back 3-pointers and a layup.
The Bruins appeared in trouble when point guard Darren Collison fouled out — for the first time this year — with 5:39 to play.
But then Kevin Love scored from close range and Josh Shipp, an erratic long-range shooter, hit a 3-pointer to push UCLA's lead to 68-59 with 4:30 to play.
The Hilltoppers wouldn't draw closer than six points the rest of the way.
See more at www.recordonline.com
| 
