Final Four Scores, Notes and Highlights
(2) Kentucky 77 – (4) South Carolina 63
Kentucky knocks off South Carolina to advance to the National Championship game. Kentucky center Elton Dawkins did a good job slowing down South Carolina center Julius Walker—holding him to 19 points. These two will continue to have these great battles next year in the NBA. SF Darian Chase led the Wildcats in scoring with 22 points.
(2) UCLA 81 – (2) UNC 76
UCLA outlasts UNC to go to the National Championship game where they’ll face off against Kentucky. UCLA PF Paul Giddens had 19 points and 9 rebounds and PG Tre Hunter had 18 points and 7 assists. For UNC, SF Dontay Hopson had 15 points, and PF Koby Alston finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
National Championship Game
(2) Kentucky 71 – (2) UCLA 67
Kentucky wins the National Championship game over UCLA. Both teams struggled early on in the game with a low scoring first have in which UCLA led 32-28 at halftime. Both teams picked it up in the second half. It was a back and forth game with neither team ever leading by more than 6 points.
Kentucky SF Kareem Livingston put the finishing touches on a tremendous freshman year. He finished with 21 points and 5 assists; center Elton Dawkins had a rough first half but ended strong and contributed 18 points and 8 rebounds. It was a tough loss for UCLA, PG Tre Hunter and PF Paul Giddens both expressed how badly they wanted to win the game—both of them also stated they will be entering the upcoming NBA draft. Hunter finished with 16 points and 5 assists; Giddens had 17 points and 7 rebounds.
NCAA Tournament MVP – Kareem Livingston, SF – Kentucky
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