Pittsburgh reaches first regional finals in 35 years

BOSTON – Levance Fields gave Pittsburgh the lead with a 3-pointer with 50.9 seconds left, then scored off his steal as the Panthers advanced to the regional finals for the first time in 35 years with a 60-55 win over Xavier on Thursday.

Top-seeded Pittsburgh (31-4) trailed, 54-52, before Fields made the go-ahead shot. The star point guard followed by poking the ball away from B.J. Raymond and going in for a layup with 23.9 seconds to go.

Sam Young led Pittsburgh with 19 points, Fields had 14, and DeJuan Blair had 10 points and 17 rebounds in the East semifinal victory.

Fourth-seeded Xavier was led by Raymond with 15 points and Derrick Brown with 14.

Dante Cunningham scored 14 points with 11 rebounds as third-seeded Villanova beat Duke for the first time in more than 50 years, taking advantage of the Blue Devils’ poor shooting to win, 77-54.

Kyle Singler scored 15 and Jon Scheyer had 13 for the second-seeded Blue Devils. But Scheyer and Gerald Henderson combined to make just four of 32 attempts as Duke shot a season-low 26.7 percent from the floor.

At Glendale, Arizona, Hasheem Thabeet scored 15 points, had 15 rebounds and blocked four shots as top-seeded Connecticut overcame a sluggish first half to beat Purdue in the West Regional semifinals, 72-60.         (AP)