CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Zion Williamson returned to the lineup at just the right time for Duke.

The 6-foo-7, 285-pound freshman Williamson – who hasn’t played since Feb. 20 when his shoe ruptured during a game and he went out with a knee strain – scored 29 points to go with 14 rebounds and the Blue Devils beat Syracuse 84-72 in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

Duke (27-5) advances to the semifinals against North Carolina on Friday.

(2) VIRGINIA 76, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 56: Kyle Guy scored 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Virginia (29-2) rallied to beat North Carolina State (22-11) in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jack Salt provided an unexpected offensive boost with a career-high 18 points for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who trailed 29-27 at halftime. But Virginia shot 63 percent after the break and scored 49 points with long runs of efficient offense to go with tough defense.

(3) NORTH CAROLINA 83, LOUISVILLE 70: Luke Maye had 19 points and nine rebounds, Coby White added 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and North Carolina (27-5) beat Louisville (20-13) in the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals at Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cameron Johnson scored all of his 14 points in the first half to help the Tar Heels extend their winning streak to eight games.

WEST VIRGINIA 79, (7) TEXAS TECH 74: Emmitt Mathews scored a career-high 28 points as 10th-seeded West Virginia (14-19) upset Texas Tech (26-6) in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Missouri.

West Virginia advanced to the semifinals Friday night.

(12) FLORIDA STATE 65, (16)VIRGINIA TECH 63: Terance Mann hit a wild off-balance runner with 1.8 seconds left in overtime to help Florida State (26-6) beat Virginia Tech (24-8) in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals at Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mann’s shot from the right side rattled around the rim before dropping through the net to break a tie for the fourth-seeded Seminoles. The fifth-seeded Hokies had a final chance but Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed a long desperation 3-pointer at the horn.

(14) NEVADA 77, BOISE STATE 69: Jazz Johnson scored 20 points, Caleb Martin had 19 and Nevada (29-3) rallied to beat Boise State (13-20) in the Mountain West Conference tournament quarterfinals at Las Vegas.

Tre’Shawn Thurman added 17 points and Cody Martin had 10 to help top-seeded Nevada tie the school record for victories in a season.

(15) KANSAS STATE 70, TEXAS CHRISTIAN 61: Xavier Snead scored 19 points, none bigger than a 3-pointer as the shot clock sounded in the final minute, and Kansas State (25-7) rallied from a slow start to beat TCU (20-13) in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Missouri.

Barry Brown added 12 points, Kamau Stokes had 11 and Makol Mawien finished with 10 for the tournament’s top seed, which advanced to play No. 5 seed Iowa State in the semifinals Friday night.

(18) BUFFALO 82, AKRON 46: Jeremy Harris scored 23 points and Dontay Caruthers added 12 as Buffalo (29-3) impressively opened the postseason with a win over Akron (17-16) in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament at Cleveland.

The top-seeded Bulls built a 20-point lead in the first half and pushed it to 30 in the second.

NEBRASKA 69, (21) MARYLAND 61: James Palmer scored 24 points and Nebraska (17-15) shut down Maryland (22-10) for the first big surprise of the Big Ten tournament, holding off the Terrapins at Chicago.

(22) AUBURN 81, MISSOURI 71: Bryce Brown scored all 17 of his points in the second half, and Auburn (23-9) beat Missouri (15-17) in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Nashville, Tennessee.

(23) MARQUETTE 86, ST. JOHN’S 54: Markus Howard scored 12 of his 30 points in a game-breaking 23-2 second-half run, and Marquette (24-8) snapped its four-game losing streak with a rout of St. John’s (21-12) in the Big East quarterfinals at New York.

(25) VILLANOVA 73, PROVIDENCE 62: Eric Paschall had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Villanova (23-9) took control in final nine minutes to beat Providence (18-15) in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference tournament at New York.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

(24) RICE 61, NORTH TEXAS 43: Nancy Mulkey scored 20 points, Erica Ogwumike added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Rice (26-3) pulled away from ninth-seeded North Texas (15-15) in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament at Frisco, Texas, for its 19th straight victory.

Related Stories