Tar Heels Top Sooners to Make Final Four

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 29, 2009 7:06 PM CDT
Tar Heels Top Sooners to Make Final Four
Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin (23) finds his path blocked in the men's NCAA tournament South Regional championship college basketball game in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2009.    (Matt Slocum)

Blake Griffin might be the nation's best player. North Carolina brushed him aside with a total team effort. Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added 18 to lead the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 72-60 win over Griffin and Oklahoma today in the South Regional final. North Carolina (32-4) advanced to the Final Four for the second straight year and will play Villanova in the national semifinals.

Griffin scored 23 points with 16 rebounds for Oklahoma, but the Sooners (30-6) went 2-for-19 from 3-point range. North Carolina advanced to a record 18th Final Four. UCLA has been to 18, but the Bruins' 1980 appearance was later vacated by the NCAA because of rules violations. This will be the Tar Heels' ninth Final Four in 19 seasons—and it will be played at Detroit's Ford Field, where they routed Michigan State 98-63 in December. (More NCAA basketball stories.)

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