No Lawson, no title for UNC

ATLANTA — So many times over the course of the last four seasons, North Carolina All-American Tyler Hansbrough has come up huge with the game on the line. In last season’s ACC Tournament semifinals, Hansbrough hit the game-winner against Virginia Tech and then did one of the ugliest dances you’ll ever see.
So when Hansbrough got the ball in his hands and UNC trailed by a point with 20 seconds left in Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinal game against Florida State, the sea of Tar Heel fans that were clad in baby blue had to be feeling pretty good about their chances.
But Hansbrough wasn’t going against any run-of-the mill defense. He was facing a Florida State squad that finished the season ranked No. 1 in the ACC in field-goal-percentage defense.
When Hansbrough spun into the lane for one of his patented moves, he ran into a double-team and was stripped of the ball by Seminoles guard Derwin Kitchen.
The sophomore, who had come up with timely plays all afternoon, hit two clutch free throws (after being fouled intentionally) for a 3-point lead. UNC’s Wayne Ellington and Danny Green missed 3-pointers at the buzzer as fourth-seeded Florida State pulled off the 73-70 upset at the Georgia Dome.
“We knew that Hansbrough would really be the go-to guy down the stretch,” said FSU coach Leonard Hamilton. “We told our guys that if they had a chance to dig it out, to go ahead and do so.
“We were fortunate enough that Kitchen was there and got the deflection.”
With the victory, FSU advanced to its first-ever ACC Tournament championship game. The Seminoles (25-8) play Duke in today’s finals.
“I told Roy before the game that if we weren’t playing each other, I’d probably be rooting for you,” said Hamilton, a former player at Gaston (N.C.) Community College. “But in reality, this means an awful lot for my seniors because they’ve been such great leaders for us this year.
“They’ve made tremendous sacrifices and been such great leaders for the so many youngsters coming into our program…I’m happy for them and I’m happy for our program because we’ve been close so many times.”
Senior Toney Douglas led Florida State, who scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half. The Seminoles also received timely baskets from freshmen Chris Singleton and Solomon Alabi down the stretch.
A Singleton 3-pointer from the wing with 2 minutes, 48 seconds remaining put FSU up 69-65, but UNC (28-4) scored the next five points to take a 70-69 lead after Bobby Frasor, filling in for injured ACC Player of the Year Ty Lawson, split a pair of free throws.
Douglas was fouled at the other end and hit both free throws for a 71-70 lead to set the stage for Kitchen’s big defensive play on Hansbrough.
“I’m not really sure what happened,” said Hansbrough, when asked if he though he had been fouled. “To be honest, I’ll just have to watch [the video] and see what happened.
“They’re very physical down low. I think Alabi presents some problems with how long he is, but I didn’t really get into the flow of my game until the second half. I didn’t really play that well in the first half.”
Ellington led UNC with 24 points. Hansbrough added 22 points, including 14 after the break.
The Tar Heels shot just 37 percent from the field. Green, a senior, was 1 of 12, including 0 of 5 from 3-point range.
“There’s no tomorrow now,” said UNC coach Roy Williams, whose team is still expected to draw a No. 1 seed in this week’s NCAA Tournament. “The next time you feel this way at the end of the game, you’re done.”