Tyler Hansbrough walked off the court after his final home game at North Carolina celebrating another Atlantic Coast Conference championship and another win over the Tar Heels' fiercest rival.
And once again, Ty Lawson had a lot to do with that.
Hansbrough scored 17 points and Lawson nearly had a triple double to help the No. 2 Tar Heels beat No. 7 Duke, 79-71, yesterday, winning the league's regular-season title and the top seed in this week's ACC tournament.
Lawson finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and several key late plays for the Tar Heels (27-3, 13-3) despite playing with a toe injury.
"It's a hard game to play," Hansbrough said. "You're thinking about everything. You're thinking about your after-game speech. You're thinking, 'Oh man, this is my last game in the Dean Dome,' and you start to think your college career is coming to an end. Then you're still trying to focus on the game and get the win."
Jon Scheyer scored 24 points to lead the Blue Devils (25-6, 11-5).
No. 10 Wake Forest 96, No. 18 Clemson 88: : James Johnson scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half to lead the host Demon Deacons (24-5, 11-5 ACC) to their fourth straight win. The Tigers (23-7, 9-7) lost for the third time in four games.
No. 8 Michigan State 62, No. 19 Purdue 51: : Kalin Lucas scored 21 points to help the host Spartans (25-5, 15-3 Big Ten) win their fifth straight game, over the Boilermakers (22-9, 11-7).
No. 14 Gonzaga 94, Santa Clara 59: : Austin Daye scored 28 to lead the Zags (25-5) past the Broncos (16-17) in the West Coast Conference semifinals in Las Vegas.
No. 24 Florida State 63, Virginia Tech 53: : Toney Douglas scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, giving the host Seminoles (23-8, 10-6) their first opening-round bye in the ACC tournament. A.D. Vassallo's 14 points led the Hokies (17-13, 7-9).
Northern Iowa 60, Illinois State 57, OT: : Ali Farokhmanesh scored eight of the Panthers' 12 points in overtime of the Missouri Valley Conference championship game in St. Louis, giving Northern Iowa (23-10) an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
National women
No. 7 Louisville 87, Rutgers 82, 2OT: : Angel McCoughtry (St. Frances) scored 35 points, including seven in the second overtime, leading the Cardinals (28-3), seeded second, past the Scarlet Knights (19-12), the seventh seed, in the Big East quarterfinals in Hartford, Conn.
State women
Lafayette 62, Navy 55: : Whitney Davidson scored 12, but the Mids (16-15) lost to the Leopards (10-21) in the Patriot League semifinals in Bethlehem, Pa.
AUTOMATIC BIDS
These teams have earned automatic bids to the NCAA men's tournament by winning their conference tournaments:
* Cornell, Ivy League
* East Tennessee State, Atlantic Sun
* Morehead State, Ohio Valley
* Northern Iowa, Missouri Valley
* Radford, Big South