Ere played through pain

In the other East semi-final, Syracuse Orangemen hung on to defeat the Auburn Tigers 79-78.

Ere's performance was made more special by the fact that he was playing with a broken bone in his left wrist, but he picked up the slack for guard Hollis Price.

Price, the Big 12 player of the year who said before the game he was only "99.9% recovered" from a groin injury, notched just 12 points.

Kevin Bookout added 16 points for the Sooners, who led 32-23 at the break and coasted the rest of the way.

Butler was making its first appearance in a regional semi-final since 1961 and was hoping to become the lowest seeded team to make a Final Four appearance.

In the second semi-final, the Orangemen led by 10 points at the half and stretched it to 17 before getting a scare from Auburn in the closing minutes.

The Tigers drained a series of three-pointers, the last with time about to expire to make it a one-point game.

As the Orangemen celebrated and Boeheim and Auburn coach Cliff Ellis shook hands, officials sensed they were acting prematurely.

A review showed there was still .03 seconds to play, at which point freshman Carmelo Anthony inbounded to Kueth Duany to end it for real.

Anthony was the hero after a slow start, notching all 18 of his points after the half.