Dion Dixon stole the ball and dunked to put Cincinnati ahead for good with 1:32 left, and the Bearcats edged out Florida State 62-56 Sunday night to reach their first regional semifinal in the NCAA tournament since 2001.
Cincinnati (26-10) will play No. 2 seed Ohio State in Boston on Thursday night in the East, giving the state of Ohio four teams out of the last 16 still standing.
Sean Kilpatrick scored 18 points, Dixon finished with 15 for Cincinnati. Yancy Gates finished with 10, and JaQuon Parker grabbed 11 rebounds.
Florida State (25-10) snapped a six-game winning streak that took the Seminoles to their first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title. But the `Noles are heading home short of the regional semifinal they reached a year ago.
Luke Loucks led the Seminoles with 14, Bernard James had 11 and Michael Snaer 11.
