North Carolina, Gonzaga storm to NCAA final

GLENDALE, Arizona – Kennedy Meeks relentlessly attacked the boards, posting up deep in the paint and playing with an aggressive edge that hasn’t always been there through his North Carolina career.

The Tar Heels needed every bit of it, too, to survive against Oregon in the Final Four.

The 6-foot-10 senior matched his career high with 25 points to go with 14 rebounds – ripping one down to seal the win – to help the Tar Heels beat the Ducks 77-76 in Saturday’s national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. That sent the Tar Heels (32-7) back to the national championship game for the second straight season to face fellow No. 1-seed Gonzaga, putting them on the doorstep of their season-long goal to return and win.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points, Gonzaga’s big men combined for 27 and the Bulldogs kept South Carolina from taking a game-tying shot in a 77-73 victory Saturday night in a matchup of first-time teams at the Final Four.

“Just an awesome, awesome basketball game, with just how hard both teams competed,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who steered the Bulldogs to the NCAA championship for the first time. “It took everything we had to hold them off and come back.”

The Bulldogs’ 7-footers, senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zach Collins, took care of things on both ends of the court, combining for 18 rebounds. Collins also had a career-high six blocks.

“That’s my job is to go in and rim protect,” said Collins, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. “I had four fouls today. But I thought, you know, getting those blocked shots would help us.”

Gonzaga (37-1), the top seed in the West Regional, will face North Carolina, the top seed in the South, for the title on Monday night.

“To be playing the last game of the year, that’s crazy cool,” Few said.

Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded and called a timeout, trailing 75-72. South Carolina passed the ball around and Gonzaga fouled Sindarius Thornwell before he could shoot with 3.5 seconds left. Thornwell made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose in hopes of his teammates grabbing an offensive rebound. Killian Tillie rebounded for Gonzaga, was fouled and made two free throws to cement the game.

“We had been practicing it all year and we always want to foul under 6 (seconds),” Few said. “Josh Perkins did a job being really patient and not fouling on the shot. The second part is you’ve got to get the rebound, and that’s what’s been difficult for us at times. They executed great.”

Meanwhile, it was a huge moment for Meeks, who battled weight issues early in his career, arriving on campus in 2013 at more than 300 pounds. He shed weight to the 260-range but struggled at times to finish explosively around the rim, particularly in a 1-for-8 shooting performance that included several misses on close shots.