ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kemba Walker scored 22 of his 36 points in another dynamic second-half performance, and Connecticut moved to the brink of its fourth trip to the Final Four with a 74-67 victory over San Diego State in the West regional semifinals Thursday night.
Freshman Jeremy Lamb added 24 points and hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:43 left for the third-seeded Huskies (29-9), who needed five wins in five days to capture the Big East tournament before advancing to an NCAA regional final for the 10th time.
D.J. Gay scored 16 points for the second-seeded Aztecs (34-3), who couldn’t quite catch up to Walker during a scintillating second-half stretch run.
Walker scored 12 consecutive points for UConn in that late duel with Gay, whose 3-pointer cut the Huskies’ lead to 65-64 with 2:53 left. Lamb replied with his 3 before an emphatic last-minute dunk.
FLORIDA 83, BYU 74
Alex Tyus scored 19 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as Florida beat BYU, 83-74, in overtime Thursday night in New Orleans, chasing Jimmer Fredette and the Cougars out of the NCAA tournament.
While Fredette was the star attraction, scoring 32 points on 11-for-29 shooting in the final game of his college career, Florida countered with balance.
Kenny Boynton added 17 points while Erving Walker and Chandler Parsons both scored 16. Boynton and Parsons each hit 3-pointers in overtime as Florida outscored BYU 15-6.
Fredette made just 3 of 15 from 3-point range and had to work for his points against Florida’s physical defense. By the end of the game, he had a bandage on his chin from a blow in the second half, but the baskets kept coming until he was held scoreless in overtime.
Florida (32-5) eliminated BYU (32-5) and reached its first NCAA tournament regional final since 2007.
