Mar 26, 2007, 0:05 GMT
East Rutherford, NJ - Georgetown exacted revenge, some 25 years later.
In a rematch of the 1982 title game, Jeff Green netted 22 points to help Georgetown roar back from a 10-point deficit late and down North Carolina in overtime, 96-84, in the East Regional final at Continental Airlines Arena.
DaJuan Summers scored 20 points and Jonathan Wallace had 19 -- including the game-tying three-pointer with 31 seconds left -- for the Hoyas, who advance to the Final Four where they will square off against Ohio State.
Jessie Sapp donated 15 points and eights assists while Roy Hibbert posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for Georgetown (30-6), which participated in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1996.
Tyler Hansbrough paced his club with 26 points and 11 boards and both Deon Thompson and Brandan Wright scored 14 for the Tar Heels (31-7), who owned a 75-65 lead with 6:02 remaining.
They were unable to fend the Hoyas off, however, then were outscored 15-3 in the extra session to suffer the loss.
'They're still playing at this point in the season, so obviously they're a tough team,' Wright said. 'Those guys were physical, tough around the basket, and I give them a lot of credit.'
Down by 10 with time running out, Georgetown ran off seven points in a row, including a Hibbert slam with 4 1/2 minutes left, to trim the deficit to 75-72.
Minutes later with the margin still sitting at three, Green rolled into the lane and took a tough shot over a pair of defenders that was off target. Patrick Ewing Jr. grabbed the miss in mid-air and put it home, however, to make it 77-76.
Hansbrough was able to give his team back a three-point lead with a short- range bucket with 1:40 left, but Georgetown was not done. Wallace gained control behind the arc on the other end moments later, and drilled a deep three to tie it at 81-81 and force overtime.
'That shot came within the rhythm of our offense,' Wallace said. 'My teammates found me, and I was able to step in and knock the shot down.'
Georgetown stared the OT with a 14-0 run to put the game away. Summers had eight of those points, including a slam with 21 ticks on the clock to cap the run.
UNC finally ended its scoring drought with eight seconds on the clock on a Ty Lawson three, but the Tar Heels were already buried by that point.
'We stick together like we did the previous games and today, and we can beat a lot of teams,' Green said.
North Carolina assumed a 50-44 halftime lead behind 12 points apiece from Hansbrough and Wright.
The contest was very tight early, and UNC owned just a 27-26 lead after a Vernon Macklin bucket with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining in the opening session.
Reyshawn Terry followed with back-to-back threes, however, to push the Tar Heels' lead to seven. That was the start of an 8-0 spurt, which Hansbrough polished off with a pair of free throws to make it 35-26.
Georgetown sliced the deficit to six by the break, and moved all the way to within three on a Sapp three with about 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Hansbrough immediately responded with a field goal, though, and North Carolina ripped off a 6-0 run to gain a 65-56 edge.
The top-seeded Tar Heels later pushed the lead to double-digits with about seven minutes left on two free throws from Marcus Ginyard.
Game Notes
The 1982 title game was famous for Michael Jordan's game-winning bucket from the baseline, and Fred Brown's costly turnover to James Worthy on the other end as time ran down. Patrick Ewing was Georgetown's center, and Roy Williams was an assistant coach to Dean Smith at UNC. The Tar Heels won that game 63-62...Georgetown was 0-2 versus Carolina all-time in the NCAA Tournament prior to this win...The all-time series is now tied at 5-5.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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