Duke, Texas Tech, Kansas, Villanova punch their tickets to Elite Eight

BOSTON — Texas Tech is headed to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

Keenan Evans had 16 points and the third-seeded Red Raiders overcame an early first half hole and dominated second-seeded Purdue down the stretch to earn a 78-65 victory in the Sweet 16 on Friday night.

Texas Tech will play top seed Villanova in the East regional final Sunday.

Zach Smith added 14 points and five rebounds.

Texas Tech trailed by as many as 7 points in the first half. But it closed the period on a 10-0 run to take a 30-25 halftime advantage. Purdue got it down to 1 early in the second but the Red Raiders never surrendered the lead.

Carsen Edwards led Purdue with 30 points, including four 3-pointers.

The Boilermakers (30-7) were playing in their second straight regional semifinal. They were denied what would have been their first Elite Eight berth since 2000.

Purdue came in ranked second nationally in 3-point percentage and connected on 7 of 18 for the game. But the Boilermakers allowed the Red Raiders 17 second-chance points.

Texas Tech (27-9) also got 33 points from its bench, compared to just 6 for Purdue.

Duke 69, Syracuse 65

OMAHA, Neb. — Duke found a way to crack Syracuse’s zone defense, and now the Blue Devils are back in the Elite Eight for the first time since the 2015 team won it all.

Freshman Marvin Bagley III turned in a giant second-half effort, and second-seeded Duke held off the 11th-seeded Orange in a 69-65 chess match of a victory in the Midwest Region semifinals Friday night.

All that talk about busted brackets and the maddest March ever — not happening in the Midwest.

The win by Duke (29-7) set up a 1 vs. 2 showdown against Kansas, which also escaped with a four-point win earlier against Clemson.

Syracuse (23-14), the last at-large team invited to the tournament, saw its unlikely run to the Sweet 16 end — unable to overcome 16 turnovers against a Mike Krzyzewski-designed zone that was every bit as pesky as Jim Boeheim’s vaunted 2-3.

Bagley scored 13 of his 22 points and had all eight of his rebounds in the second half. Seven of those boards were on the offensive end and led to second-chance baskets.

But Syracuse stayed in it until the end. Not until Gary Trent Jr., made two free throws with 6.3 seconds left was this game sealed.

Battle led the Orange with 19 points.

Kansas 80, Clemson 76

OMAHA, Neb. — No crazy comeback story here.

Top-seeded Kansas brought at least a temporary halt to the insanity this March, withstanding a wild comeback from fifth-seeded Clemson for a too-close-for-comfort, 80-76 victory on Friday.

Malik Newman led the Jayhawks (30-7) with 17 points in a one-time runaway that got much closer and, quite frankly, won’t mean much if KU can’t finish the job in the Midwest Region final Sunday.

For the third straight year as a No. 1 seed, KU made its way through the Sweet 16. Getting to the Final Four has been a different story — and the Jayhawks are on the doorstep once again.

As a top seed the last two seasons, Kansas made it through the regional semifinals, only to flop a game shy of the Final Four both times. In fact, this is the sixth time Bill Self’s team has been seeded first since winning it all in 2008; the Jayhawks haven’t made the Final Four one of those times.

It could’ve ended Friday.

“We finished the game about as poorly as a team can,” Self said. “We know we’ve got to be a lot better Sunday, but we’re really proud and happy to be in the game.”

Clemson trailed 62-42 midway through the second half, but climbed to within six with 2:27 left. But thanks to Devonte’ Graham’s offensive rebound with 1:57 left, the Jayhawks ran almost a minute off the clock. The Tigers got the next rebound and had a chance to cut it to a one-possession game, but misfired on back-to-back 3s. From there, Kansas overcame a dogged Clemson press just long enough to ensure that the Tigers couldn’t pull any closer until the final buzzer. Kansas came into the game a 4 ½-point favorite.

Gabe DeVoe had a career-high 31 for Clemson (25-10), which couldn’t replicate the magic it showed in beating Auburn by 31 to reach its first Sweet 16 in 21 years.

Villanova 90, West Virginia 78

BOSTON — Villanova’s 3-point party rolled past the pressure of West Virginia to bring the Wildcats to the doorstep of another Final Four two seasons after winning a national championship.

The top-seeded Wildcats continued their outside feast, downing the fifth-seeded Mountaineers 90-78 on Friday night to earn their second trip to the regional finals in three seasons.

Jalen Brunson led Villanova with 27 points and Omari Spellman had 18 with eight rebounds as Villanova overcame the West Virginia press by hitting 13 of 24 shots from 3-point range.

Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate each at 12 points to lead West Virginia.

Villanova (33-4) has now made 47 3-pointers for the tournament. The outside shots helped the Wildcats overcome 16 turnovers.

Villanova’s Sweet 16 plan for the team nicknamed “Press Virginia”: Attack the stifling defense head-on.

The Wildcats struggled at times, especially in the first half, but dug out of a six-point hole in the second half with an 11-0 run.

“What a game, man. I hope that looked as good as it did from the bench, man,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “That was the most physically demanding, mentally draining 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time. They are so relentless.”

The Mountaineers (26-11) stayed close throughout the night, ramping up the pressure and making Villanova play faster than it wanted to early. But foul trouble throughout the second half was too much for West Virginia to overcome after it gave up the lead.

Carter was called for his third with 17:33 left in the game. That was followed by Daxter Miles being whistled for his third and fourth fouls over a two minute stretch that sent him to the bench with 15 minutes remaining.

West Virginia was able to adjust for a while and took advantage of a more than three-minute Villanova scoring drought to take a 60-54 edge with just over 11 minutes left.

But Villanova heated up again. Its 11-point run was capped by a thunderous block and dunk on the other end by Omari Spellman that pushed the Wildcats back in front 65-60.

The Wildcats kept the momentum going, stretching the lead to 76-66 on a 3-pointer by Brunson.

West Virginia never got closer than 4 points the rest of the way.

Villanova led 44-42 at the half after a fast-paced opening 20 minutes. Brunson led all scorers with 16 points in the half, with West Virginia getting 11 points from Daxter Miles.

The Wildcats came out firing, connecting on their first seven field goals. They handled the Mountaineers’ pressure well early. But the Wildcats had three turnovers over a 65-second stretch during an 8-0 Mountaineers run that put them in front 33-30.