Roach lifts Texas above the 7th Tar Talons No. 7 92-89 in Las Vegas | Sports News

By ADAM SOBOLESKI, Associated press

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Kerwin Roach II has mixed aggressiveness and good decision-making, in the image of coach Shaka Smart.

Roach scored the best career score with 32 points and helped Texas to defend later to beat North Carolina's No. 92-89 on Thursday and qualify for the Las Vegas Invitational final.

"I only played in the right direction and I did not want to force anything," said Roach, who also had seven assists and six interceptions. "(My teammates) have done a good job creating shots, we have a blue-collar team, we have to fight to win, last year when we lost a match against Duke like this, it was tears of sadness.That evening there are tears of happiness. "

Texas (5-0) play Friday in the championship game against the 11th state of Michigan. North Carolina gets the UCLA number 17 in the consolation game.

Roach also had six rebounds and 12 out of 15, including 3 out of 3 in depth. The senior surpassed his previous record of 26 points with an emphatic dunk with 8:27 for a 73-65 lead.

"The best thing about him tonight is that he really took the right shots and did the right readings," Smart said. "He really made us leave after a slow start, they came to us, they will not stop shooting lights unless we make them."

Roach and North Carolina rookie Coby White came and went all the way. The Whites had 33 points, but he missed a 3-pointer that would have allowed the Tar Heels (5-1) to win 1:01. He was 7 out of 10 by 3 points.

A freshman at the UNC had the most points since Harrison Barnes was 40 in 2011 against Clemson at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Matt Coleman III had 16 points for Texas and Jaxson Hayes had 15 points and nine rebounds. Dylan Osetkowski scored 14 points, including a 3-pointer that allowed Texas to score 43-42 at half-time.

"Our guys did a good job managing the game against their defense against the pitfalls," said Smart. "I told the guys at half-time that we had to be a team of more and more blue-collars.We must be serious.It will not be a nice basketball there.We have to find a way to go get those lost balloons. "

Cameron Johnson had 16 points for the Tar Heels. Luke Maye had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Nassir Little had 11 points and six rebounds.

"In the first half, we took four free throws, started shooting 3-pointers and sent the ball out of bounds," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams. "In the second half, I think our guys have a lot worse match."

The Longhorns moved away after half-time and led 11 with 11:08 left. North Carolina responded by cutting 80-78 with 5:44 left.

The Longhorns were successful against the Tar Heels, leading 8-3 in the all-time series. They also won the previous meeting in December 2015 in Austin, Texas.

NO. 11 STATE OF MICHIGAN 87, NO. 17 UCLA 67

Cassius Winston had 19 points and seven assists to help the No. 11 Michigan State to overtake UCLA No. 17 and reach the final of the Las Vegas Invitational.

"It was one of those strange circumstances where my assistants did a good job and my players did a good job," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, whose team shot 52 %. "And when you hit, you're more beautiful than you."

Nick Ward scored 16 points, Joshua Langford was 14 and Josh McQuaid was 11 for Michigan State (4-1).

Izzo could not see Texas upset North Carolina earlier in the day, but the state of Michigan has already shot Longhorn movies and knows what to expect.

"They are athletic, they are really athletic," said Izzo. "After what I heard, they played a lot better than we saw them at the movies."

Kris Wilkes had 15 points to lead UCLA (4-1). Jaylen Hands and Chris Smith each had 11 points for the Bruins, who shot 36 percent of the pack.

Michigan State built its biggest lead at 29 with 1:49 up at halftime. The Spartans fired 10 out of 17 from the 3-point range during the session, while UCLA shot 24%.

NO. 6 NEVADA 96, TULSA 86

Jordan Carolina had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Nevada, No. 6, beat Tulsa to reach the final of the other support of the Las Vegas Invitational competition.

Nevada (5-0) will play Massachusetts on Friday night.

Caleb Martin added 21 points for the Wolf Pack, making his 10 free throws. Jazz Johnson had 20 out of 5 points out of 7 from 3 points.

Sterling Taplin the Golden Hurricane (4-1) with 22 points, and Martins Igbanu added 14.

Nevada finally pulled out with about 10 minutes of play, creating a lead of 80-62 with 9:30. Tulsa cut it to 88-79 with 3:48 remaining.

UMASS 84, ILLINOIS SOUTH 62

Luwane Pipkins scored 15 points and UMass took a 16-2 lead in a win over southern Illinois to stage a duel against Nevada.

Carl Pierre has added 14 points and Curtis Cobb has 11. The Minutemen scored the highest of the season with 15 3 points, one less than the school record.

Eric McGill led Southern Illinois (2-3) with 18 points and Kavion Pippen added 12.

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