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NCAA Basketball: Stunning Overtime Wins Advance Illinois, Louisville to Final Four


Both favorites playing in U.S. college basketball's national championship tournament Saturday rallied from big deficits to post stunning overtime wins and advance to the Final Four (semifinals).

The nation's top-ranked team, the University of Illinois, trailed third-seed Arizona by 15 points with four minutes left in regulation time, but came back quickly. Deron Williams hit a three-point shot to tie the game at 80 with little more than a half-minute showing on the clock. Illinois held on to win in overtime, 90-89, when Arizona missed a long shot just before the buzzer.

In another regional final, The fourth-seeded Louisville Cardinals came back from a 20-point deficit against seventh-seed West Virginia to tie the game with less than a minute to go. Louisville's defense dominated the Mountaineers in overtime for a 93-85 victory.

Louisville and Illinois will face off in a semifinal game next Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri. The other matchup will be decided Sunday when regional top seed North Carolina faces sixth-seed Wisconsin, and second-seed Kentucky meets fifth-seed Michigan State.

The national championship game is in St. Louis on April 4.

Some information for this report provided by AP.

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