SAN ANTONIO — Ohio State senior Ron Lewis knew better than to look at the scoreboard. One look at the Tennessee Volunteers told him all he needed to know.

Although the top-seeded Buckeyes trailed by 17 and freshman sensation Greg Oden was in deep foul trouble, Lewis could tell his team had the Vols right where they wanted them.

"Their body language was like they already had the game won," Lewis said.

Lewis and Mike Conley shook Tennessee out of it by tying the game midway through the half, then the energized Buckeyes outplayed the Volunteers down the stretch for an 85-84 victory last night in the semifinals of the NCAA South Regional.

"In this tournament, the two most important words are 'survive' and 'advance,' and we've been very, very fortunate the last couple of games to do those things," said Buckeyes coach Thad Matta, whose club needed a furious final minute of regulation then an overtime to get past Xavier in the second round.

Lewis, who hit the big 3-pointer in the Xavier rally, scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half. Conley scored nine of his 17 from the foul line — including the winner with 6.5 seconds left.

Yet Conley missed a second shot, giving Tennessee (24-11) one last chance. Ramar Smith grabbed the rebound and went all the way to the rim with Conley defending him. They went up together and time expired with the potential winning shot in the air.

Oden, though, was there to swat it into the Volunteers' cheerleaders, then drop back to earth himself with his biggest smile of the night knowing the Buckeyes (33-3) had held on for their 20th straight win. Smith, meanwhile, planted himself facedown in front of the Tennessee bench, knowing what a great opportunity his team had blown.

"We never got overconfident," Vols forward Dane Bradshaw said. "Just, defensively, we didn't have that sense of urgency. That's what makes it worse."

The Buckeyes kept alive their longest run in the tournament since reaching the Final Four in 1999. They can get there again with a victory tomorrow against second-seeded Memphis, a 65-64 winner over Texas A&M earlier yesterday.

For the Volunteers, this was a second straight heartbreaking loss to this club, one of the nation's best. The first was a 68-66 defeat in Columbus, Ohio, in mid-January when Oden had the first breakout game of his career.

"We played about as well in the first half, I think, as we can play," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "We're terribly disappointed. We've proven we can beat some of the best teams in the country. We've also proven we can come close to beating some of the best teams in the country."

The 7-foot, 270-pound Oden scored only nine points this time, matching his lowest in 15 games, and set a season-low with three rebounds. He never fouled out, though, needing quick substitutions in the final few minutes to avoid getting disqualified.

After the game, Oden needed stitches in his chin because of a collision during the second half. He played only nine minutes in each half, a season-low total of 18.

"It was part of the game plan to get him in foul trouble," Bradshaw said. "We just really didn't do a good job from the get-go (in the second half)."

Pearl came worried how his team would match up with Ohio State, especially since the Buckeyes already had seen their frenetic full-court press in the first matchup. They rarely used it and got only eight turnovers, down from 20 last time.

Although Pearl's fears came true and the Vols couldn't match up, Tennessee fans can be optimistic their second-year coach can parlay his strategies and enthusiasm into more long NCAA tournament runs.

For now, though, it's Ohio State's turn.

"They've obviously got a grit," Pearl said, "they've got a resolve."

MEMPHIS 65, TEXAS A&M 64

SAN ANTONIO — Antonio Anderson isn't the player Memphis would have picked to go the line with a chance to advance to another NCAA regional final.

But there Anderson was, shooting free throws with 3.1 seconds left in a game in which he had already blown two open layups and missed three straight free throws.

"I wanted to choke him at halftime," Memphis coach John Calipari said.

Calipari and the rest of the Tigers felt drastically different after Anderson made both free throws to beat Texas A&M (27-7) last night and put Memphis (33-3) in a regional final for the second year in a row.

Anderson went to the line after being fouled at the end of a wild sequence in which the Tigers missed three quick shots. And he knew what was about to happen.

"When I got to the line I could see we were tired and deep down so was the other team. I just wanted to get the game over with," said Anderson, who finished with five points. "I missed free throws earlier, but I had the confidence I could knock them down."

Now the Tigers, who have won 25 straight games, see a chance to get to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1985. They will face top-seeded Ohio State, an 85-84 winner over Tennessee, tomorrow in the South Regional final.

Texas A&M had one final chance after Anderson's free throws, but Dominique Kirk's shot from just inside half-court was woefully short.

Kirk took the final shot instead of senior Acie Law, who had 13 points. He was only 6 of 17 from the field in his final game for the Aggies — and blew a layup with just under a minute left after he took a long inbound pass.