ST. LOUIS — North Carolina’s NCAA tournament title hopes weren’t broken along with star point guard Kendall Marshall’s wrist — barely. The top-seeded Tar Heels were ripe for an upset, but Ohio just wasn’t quite good enough to pick them off.
North Carolina built a huge lead, squandered it as Ohio made the Tar Heels look vulnerable, then held on for a 73-65 overtime win in a Midwest Regional semifinal at the Edward Jones Dome.
Though the Tar Heels (32-5) weren’t dominant, or even crisp, they were big and experienced, and that was enough to beat the Bobcats (29-8) and earn a berth in tomorrow’s Midwest final against Kansas.
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UP IN THE AIR: North Carolina’s John Henson battles for position with Reggie Keely (30) and Walter Offutt of Ohio during the Tar Heels’ 73-65 overtime win last night.
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“I was just begging and pleading and trying to work my rear end off to get us [to play],’’ North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “My head was killing me. I got a little dizzy a couple times, but I said if I’m going to die let’s at least die with a win. You feel like a preacher, because I was just begging and pleading and pushing and trying to get them to understand “This is 5 minutes, let’s play better.” I think we did.’’
Williams’ prayers were answered in the form of a mammoth 20-point, 22-rebound, four-block night from Tyler Zeller, and a plus-33 margin on the boards. Both rebounding numbers were the best in the Tar Heels’ long NCAA history. That dominance let them overcome a season-high 24 turnovers and a sputtering offense.
“We feel like we got away with one,” said Zeller, who joined St. John’s George Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Joe Smith and Tim Duncan as the only 20-20 players in the Big Dance in the last 35 years. “Ohio played the better game. They hit a lot of shots. We just were able to make plays at the end ... to pull it out.’’
North Carolina built a 15-point lead as Ohio missed 17 of its first 20 shots, but they squandered that advantage and got taken to overtime. In the extra period, however, Reggie Bullock’s left-corner 3-pointer and Harrison Barnes’ jumper give the Tar Heels a 68-63 lead they never surrendered.
“When I caught the ball, I heard my whole bench ... say ‘Shoot.’ I was just thinking ‘It’s my time to perform,’ ’’ said Bullock, who had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to pick up the slack for the absent Marshall and the ineffective Barnes.
Without Marshall, who broke his right wrist on Sunday, and was replaced by little-used freshman Stilman White (six assists, no turnovers), Barnes struggled to 12 points on horrid 3-of-16 shooting. But he scored five points in overtime, while the Bobcats missed all six of their shots in OT — and one that could have prevented it.
Walter Offutt, who scored a game-high 26 points for Ohio, drove for a tying basket with 25 seconds left in regulation and was fouled. But he missed the potential go-ahead foul shot and the Bobcats settled for OT, where they imploded behind the reckless shooting of D.J. Cooper (3-for-20).
“One free throw away,” Offut said. “As a leader on this team, I take responsibility that I’ve got to hit that free throw. It just feels terrible to kind of let my team down in that sort of way.’’
brian.lewis@nypost.com
Tar Heels, North Carolina, Ohio, Ohio, Bobcats, Walter Offutt, Marshall, Marshall, NCAA tournament
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