EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jaw set, eyes about to well, forward Tyler Hansbrough was the first North Carolina player in line to congratulate Georgetown on Sunday.

He then raced off the court in frustration.

"I didn't want to watch them celebrate," Hansbrough explained after his team squandered a 10-point lead, fell to the Hoyas 96-84 in overtime and lost its chance to advance to the NCAA Final Four. "I thought we'd be the ones out there ... cutting down the nets."

They were supposed to be. This was top-seeded North Carolina, the squad with so much speed, depth and talent that it felt it could match up with anyone. But in the end, it beat itself.

Leading 75-65 with 7 minutes, 19 seconds left, UNC (31-7) got away from the things that had pushed it ahead in the first place: feeding the ball inside, playing strong defense and being the aggressor.

It also appeared to get overconfident: "We were kind of out there waiting for time to expire, we didn't finish the game," said Marcus Ginyard, who started his second straight contest at small forward.

As a result, the Hoyas outscored the Tar Heels 31-9 the rest of the way -- and they, not UNC, are the ones headed to Atlanta to face Ohio State on Saturday in the national semifinals.

"When you think of Carolina basketball, there's a lot there to emulate and imitate," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, who helped avenge his father's national title loss to the Tar Heels 25 years ago. "So we're just extremely fortunate to come away with a win here tonight."

The Tar Heels' collapse at the end was perplexing, considering UNC controlled the pace and the boards early.

Trailing 22-15 after Hoyas guard Jonathan Wallace made a 3-pointer, UNC jumped ahead with a 20-4 run that included six points from reserve forward Deon Thompson and back-to-back 3-pointers by senior Reyshawn Terry.

Georgetown forward Jeff Green halted the tumult with a dunk -- his first field goal of the game. But with 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert in foul trouble early and the Tar Heels seemingly getting to the line at will (29-for-34 for the game), UNC led 50-44 at the break, and by as many as 11 in the second half.

But with 31 seconds left in regulation, Wallace capped a 16-6 Hoyas run with a 3-pointer that knotted the score at 81-81.

During a timeout, UNC coach Roy Williams set up a play for man-to-man defense and a play for zone. The Hoyas went to zone, point guard Ty Lawson tried to penetrate, but the ball went to UNC freshman shooting guard Wayne Ellington. But his 3-pointer missed its mark, and he finished 2-for-11 for the game.

"That's a pretty good look," Williams said. "I'd take that any time, any day, and the shot just didn't go in. But nobody hates it worse than that youngster."

The miss, however was just a precursor to many more in overtime.

While the confident Hoyas scored on the inside -- two layups, two dunks, and seven free throws in the five-minute extra period -- the Tar Heels tried only three layups, all on one possession, and missed.

They didn't score until eight seconds remained, on a Lawson 3-pointer. By then, they had missed seven previous 3-point attempts, a jump shot and two free throws -- and had gone nearly seven minutes without a field goal.

"We just didn't play as tough as we needed to down the stretch," said Ginyard, repeating a familiar refrain from UNC's losses during the regular season. "We made some mental errors and we just didn't execute like we needed to late in the game."

Green led Georgetown, which shot 57.6 percent for the game, with 22 points.

Hansbrough had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Tar Heels; Thompson and Brandan Wright each chipped in 14 for Carolina.

"It's just disappointing," said Hansbrough, one of several UNC underclassmen who now must decide whether to return next year, or go pro. "Our goal was to go farther than this."

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