Oklahoma State

LOUISVILLE FORCED TO RALLY: : Top seed Louisville saw a 12-point lead turn into a four-point deficit in the second half against No. 9 seed Siena before Terrence Williams took over and sparked the Cardinals to a 79-72 victory. USC PUSHES MICHIGAN STATE:: It took a career-high 18 points from Travis Walton, a defensive specialist, for second seed Michigan State to get past 10th seed Southern California, 74-69. The game featured 16 ties and 14 lead changes. INSIDE-OUTSIDE COMBO LIFTS PITT:: DeJuan Blair's powerful inside game combined with Sam Young's shooting to get No. 1 seed Pittsburgh an 84-76 win over eighth seed Oklahoma State.

SEATTLE -- They are a study in contrasts: not only athletically and philosophically, but geographically and historically. Yet there one obvious similarity between UCLA and Oklahoma State.They are at the Final Four, in contention for a national championship. That will change tonight, as their differences are played out in the first NCAA tournament semifinal game at the Kingdome.It's the fast-breaking Bruins from trendy Westwood and the ground-you-into-the-floor Cowboys from backwater Stillwater.

Blair Academy's Ryan Davis of Crownsville, an All-Metro performer in his freshman and sophomore years at McDonogh and the youngest wrestler ever to be named The Sun's Wrestler of The Year, said yesterday he has orally committed to a full scholarship at Oklahoma State. Davis, whose career high-school mark is 122-8, said he expects to sign his national letter of intent on Wednesday and compete at 141 pounds for the Cowboys and coach John Smith, a four-time world champion and two-time NCAA champ.

BOSTON -- Syracuse staggered through the initial 13 1/2 minutes with turnovers, poor shot selection and lax defense. Name the shortcoming, and you'd find an Orangeman. Syracuse wasn't supposed to be down by 17 points to Oklahoma State in the second round of the East Regional yesterday at the Fleet Center. "Not with the East semis being right there home in Albany," forward Carmelo Anthony said. But it looked as if the closest Syracuse would get down the New York Thruway to the Pepsi Arena in Albany was the first rest stop.

College baseballPinch hitter Eddie Davis' two-out, two-run homer in the eighth tied the game and Kevin Curtis followed with another homer against Louisiana State ace Mike Sirotka to keep Long Beach State alive with a 10-8 win in the College World Series semifinals at Omaha, Neb.In the College World Series.The teams meet again tomorrow with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game against the survivor of Bracket Two -- Wichita State or Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State needed a victory today to stay alive.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Lost in the clamor over of Michigan's precocious freshmen, Eric Riley took his turn in the spotlight last night and delivered the Wolverines to the Southeast Regional final.Riley scored 15 points and took 10 rebounds to help Michigan squeeze past second-seeded Oklahoma State, 75-72, at Rupp Arena.Michigan (23-8) will make tomorrow's s regional championship game an all-Big Ten affair. Ohio State earned its way in with an 80-73 victory over North Carolina in last night's first game.

The game was run and chase, and for 38 minutes, Alabama stayed step-for-step with Oklahoma State's Randy Rutherford.But when his opening finally came -- and Alabama finally tired -- the Cowboys' sharpshooter ushered the Crimson Tide out of the NCAA tournament."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J -- Oklahoma State got a typically great effort from its defense and a typically strong showing from its inside-outside combination of center Bryant Reeves and guard Randy Rutherford. But the Cowboys are headed to the Final Eight for the first time in 30 years because some unexpected players grabbed the spotlight with the season on the line.Reserve guard Chianti Roberts made two key defensive plays and converted a huge layup in the final two minutes, and point guard Andre Owens forced Wake Forest star guard Randolph Childress to commit the night's biggest turnover, as Oklahoma State overcame a six-point, second-half deficit to take a 71-66 victory in the East Regional semifinals last night before a sellout crowd at the Meadowlands Arena.

No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 3 Pittsburgh Time: 7:27 p.m. Records: Oklahoma State 29-3, Pittsburgh 31-4. How they got here: Oklahoma State defeated No. 15 Eastern Washington, 75-56, defeated No. 7 Memphis, 70-53; Pitt defeated No. 14 Central Florida, 53-44, defeated No. 6 Wisconsin, 59-55. What to watch for: This has the potential to be one of the tournament's best games. The reason: These teams are really good and should not be meeting in a regional semifinal. A national semifinal or a regional final, OK. But not a regional semifinal.

It has been a long road back for Eddie Sutton, and he has the tired face and tattered past to prove it.Sutton talks about being in the homestretch of his career, and Oklahoma State has given its 59-year-old jockey quite a ride. The Cowboys earned their first Final Four appearance in 44 years -- they face top-ranked UCLA at 5:42 p.m. today -- by wearing down favorites Wake Forest and Massachusetts with second-half comebacks in last week's East Regional.But no member of the Cowboys has come back like Sutton.