GREENSBORO, N.C. — Wake Forest guard Daivien Williamson made a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left but it was Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim who took the headline afterwards.
Boeheim’s 47-year tenure as coach at Syracuse came to awkward end on Wednesday, with the university saying Orange assistant Adrian Autry has been promoted to the job.
The move came less than three hours after Wake Forest beat Syracuse 77-74 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
It was Wake Forest’s first conference tournament win since 2017.
Wake Forest (19-13), the No. 9 seed, advances to play top-seeded Miami in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Demon Deacons had lost six straight games at the ACC Tournament and nine of their last 10.
Williamson grabbed a long rebound off a missed jumper by Joe Girard and handed it to teammate Tyree Appleby, who dribbled up the court and drew multiple defenders at the top of the key. Williamson was left open for a long 3-pointer and Syracuse was well short on a heave at the buzzer.
“We just had to go, we knew we ain’t have no timeouts,” Williamson said in a TV interview. “Tyree made a great pass, I had confidence to knock it down and I did.”
Williamson finished with four 3-pointers and 17 points and Appleby had 15 points and 12 assists for Wake Forest. Bobi Klintman secured a double-double in the first half and finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Cameron Hildreth also scored 15 points and Andrew Carr had 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Wake Forest scored the opening four points of the second half to take its first lead, 37-35, since it was 6-5. Appleby and Williamson each made a 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cap a 17-1 run for a 54-42 lead. The run came during the Demon Deacons’ 21-7 start to the half.
Hildreth scored seven straight Wake Forest points to help build a 70-66 lead and he added a spinning shot in the lane with 36.2 seconds left to tie it at 74-all.
Benny Williams had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five steals and Judah Mintz added 18 points with seven assists for Syracuse (17-15). Jesse Edwards, coming off a 27-point performance on Saturday, was held to just two points in the first half and finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
NORTH CAROLINA 85, BOSTON COLLEGE 61
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Caleb Love scored 22 points, RJ Davis hit four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points and North Carolina kept alive its NCAA Tournament hopes with a win over Boston College in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
Armando Bacot had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes for No. 7 seed North Carolina (20-12). The 6-foot-11 senior left the game with about five minutes left in the first half due to an apparent ankle injury. He started the second half before returning to the bench for good with 14:27 to play and the Tar Heels leading 58-31.
Bacot, Love and Davis scored eight points apiece in a 29-12 first-half run that gave the Tar Heels a 33-16 lead with 7:45 left before intermission and Boston College trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
Makai Ashton-Langford scored 16 points, Jaeden Zackery added 15 and Quinten Post 13 for 10th-seeded Boston College (16-17).
PITTSBURGH 89, GEORGIA TECH 81
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Jamarius Burton scored 21 points, Federiko Federiko added 19 and Pittsburgh ousted Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
The Panthers play fourth-seeded and No. 21-ranked Duke in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Duke beat Pitt in their one regular-season meeting 77-69 on the Blue Devils’ floor.
Burton was 10-of-15 shooting and added eight assists. Federiko made all seven of his shots and grabbed eight rebounds. All the Pitt starters were in double figures. Greg Elliott hit all four of his 3-point attempts and scored 16 points, Blake Hinson added 12 points and nine rebounds and Nelly Cummings had 11 points.The fifth-seeded Panthers (22-10) shot 56% and made 20 of 25 free throws.
Ja’von Franklin had 19 points and 15 rebounds to lead the 13th-seeded Yellow Jackets (15-18). Deebo Coleman added 17 points, hitting four 3-pointers, and had nine rebounds. Miles Kelly and Kyle Sturdivant, the latter with eight assists, scored 16 points each.
Georgia Tech was within four points with 2:20 left but Burton converted a three-point play and after a Sturdivant bucket, Burton found Hinson for a 3-pointer and an eight-point lead with 41 seconds remaining. Sturdivant added two free throws and a jumper to cut the deficit to four. Four free throws by Elliott finished the scoring.
MISSISSIPPI 67, SOUTH CAROLINA 61
NASHVILLE — Freshman backup Amaree Abram scored 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, Jaemyn Brakefield scored 16 points and Mississippi beat South Carolina in an opening round game of the SEC Tournament.
James White added 10 points and gathered 10 rebounds for Ole Miss which had a 41-31 rebounding advantage. The Rebels made 25 of 59-shot attempts (42.4%) including 9 of 22 (40.9%) from 3-point range.
Greg Jackson II scored 24 points for the Gamecocks, Meechie Johnson scored 13 and Hayden Brown 11.
As the 13th seed, Ole Miss (12-20) advances to face No. 5-seed and 17th-ranked Tennessee on Thursday. South Carolina (11-21) ended its season having lost seven of its last 10.
OHIO STATE 65, WISCONSIN 57
CHICAGO — Sean McNeil scored 17 points, Justice Sueing added 16 and 13th-seeded Ohio State held on to defeat 12th-seeded Wisconsin to open the Big Ten Tournament.
The Buckeyes (14-18), who had a 27-point lead with 15 1/2 minutes to play, face fifth-seed Iowa in the second round on Thursday.
Bruce Thornton added 15 points for Ohio State, which went 1 for 8 from the field in the final 10 minutes and missed six free throws, including the front end of two 1-and-1’s in the final four. Brice Sensabaugh had nine points and 11 rebounds.
Tyler Wahl had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Connor Essegian scored 11 for the Badgers (17-14), who were 8 of 31 through almost 35 minutes before going 12 of 23 when they closed within 57-52 with 2:13 to go.
Ohio State turned it over, but Max Klesmit missed a 3-point attempt that could have cut it to two. McNeil made two free throws with 1:20 left for the Buckeyes. After that they were just 4 of 8 until Roddy Gayle Jr. made a pair with 11.2 to play to seal it.
WEST VIRGINIA 78, TEXAS TECH 62
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kedrian Johnson had 20 points, Tre Mitchell added 17 points and nine rebounds, and No. 8 seed West Virginia rolled to a victory over ninth-seeded Texas Tech in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Erik Stevenson added 18 points and Emmitt Matthews Jr. had 13 for the Mountaineers (19-13), who advanced to play third-ranked Kansas — the No. 1 seed and defending champion — in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
Pop Isaacs had 15 points for Texas Tech (16-16). Kevin Obanor and De’Vion Harmon scored 14 apiece.
The Red Raiders were playing without coach Mark Adams, who was suspended Sunday for what the school called the “use of an inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment.” Adams led the Red Raiders to the title game of last year’s Big 12 Tournament, where they lost to eventual national champ Kansas.
DePAUL 66, SETON HALL 65
NEW YORK — Umoja Gibson made three free throws with 3.9 seconds left and Nick Ongenda blocked a layup at the buzzer to give DePaul a win over Seton Hall in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
The 10th-seed Blue Devils will face second-seeded Xavier in Thursday’s semifinals.
After Gibson gave DePaul the lead, Seton Hall’s Femi Odukale drove the length of the floor but had his layup at the buzzer blocked from behind by Ongenda. Initially, the block was ruled to be goaltending. But after a review the officials reversed their decision and DePaul had the win, snapping a 12-game losing streak.
Javan Johnson hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to lead the Blue Demons (10-22). Ongenda scored 15 points and blocked four shots. Jalen Terry made all four of his 3-point tries and had 14 points and Gibson finished with 10.
Tyrese Samuel scored 16 points and had 12 rebounds for the seven-seed Pirates (18-15). KC Ndefo added 14 points, Al-Amir Dawes 12 and Jamir Harris 10.
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