Syracuse will be playing for a spot in the Final Four because of numbers. C.J. Fair put up some like he hadn't in a while, and the Orange finished with offensive statistics that Wisconsin just doesn't allow in a 64-63 victory in the East Regional semifinals Thursday that wasn't secure until the final buzzer. Fair finished with 15 points — five fewer than he had in the last six games combined — on 7-of-9 shooting. The Orange scored 11 more than the Badgers allowed on average in leading Division I. Syracuse shot 55 percent from the field, well above the 38.5 percent Wisconsin gave up this season, and the Orange were 5 of 9 from 3-point range, much better than the 28.8 percent the Badgers allowed. All those numbers mean the Orange (34-2) will play second-seeded Ohio State (30-7) in the regional final Saturday with a trip to New Orleans at stake. And it wasn't decided until Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor missed a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left. Josh Gasser corralled the rebound but his toss toward the basket was off at the buzzer. Buckeyes going strong It had been a half century since Ohio State and Cincinnati met in the NCAA tournament. Since that game, the teams had met once — in 2006 — amid complaints from the Bearcats that the Buckeyes ignored them. Thursday night at TD Garden, the 2012 version of the Buckeyes did what the 1962 Buckeyes had failed to do — it beat the Bearcats (26-11). Behind monster games from Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State (30-7) cruised to an 81-66 victory to set up a meeting with top-seeded Syracuse (34-2) Saturday in the Round of 8. Cardinals win Louisville, which lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament the last two seasons and supposedly lacked the toughness of Michigan State, won another game Thursday. It beat the Spartans the way the Spartans beat other teams for years. It bullied the perennial March bully, staggered the usual tournament tough guy, won a gritty, ugly, low-scoring affair, 57-44, in a game that resembled football as much as basketball and included 69 combined missed shots. Florida tops What seemed unlikely early Thursday surprisingly came to fruition later, after both Florida and Louisville staged NCAA tournament upsets in the West Region, setting up a Saturday reunion with a Final Four berth at stake. Florida did not limp into the tournament so much as it crawled, losing four of its final five games to receive a No. 7 seed, which seemed unfathomable last month. Then the tournament started. On Thursday, the Gators' run of tournament dominance continued with a 68-58 victory over Marquette, the third seed, at US Airways Center.
