April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Kansas and Memphis advanced to the championship game of the national men's college basketball tournament with double-digit victories in the Final Four.

Kansas beat top-ranked North Carolina 84-66, withstanding a second-half rally by the Tar Heels after storming to an early 28-point lead at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Memphis defeated UCLA 78-63 in the first national semifinal, pulling away in the second half to reach the title game for the first time in 35 years.

The championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament will be played in two days.

Kansas (36-3) will be seeking its third national championship and first since 1988, when Danny Manning led the Jayhawks to the title as a sixth seed. Memphis (38-1) has never won a championship, losing its only previous appearance in the final by 21 points to a Bill Walton-led UCLA squad in 1973.

Kansas Bests North Carolina

Kansas used an 18-0 run to open a 33-10 first-half lead against a North Carolina team that hadn't trailed by more than four points in its first four tournament games.

The Jayhawks pushed their lead to 40-12 as the Tar Heels went 18 straight possessions and more than 9 minutes without a field goal. Kansas took a 44-27 lead into the break as North Carolina closed the half with a 15-4 scoring run.

The Tar Heels continued to close the gap in the second half, using a 14-0 surge to pull within 54-50 with 11:08 left.

North Carolina wouldn't get any closer, as Kansas used a late 16-2 run to seal its first trip to the title game since 2003. Brandon Rush scored 25 points to lead the Jayhawks, while Darnell Jackson had 12 and Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins added 11 points each.

Wayne Ellington scored 18 points for North Carolina (37-3), which had a 15-game winning streak snapped. Tyler Hansbrough added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, and Danny Green had 15 points.

Memphis Moves On

Memphis, in its first Final Four since 1985, used an 11-2 scoring run early in the first half against UCLA to take the lead for good. The Tigers led 38-35 at halftime, opened the second half with a 10-2 run and steadily pulled away in the closing minutes in San Antonio as the Bruins missed 11 straight shots during one stretch.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 28 points to lead Memphis, which set a college basketball record for wins in a season.

Freshman Derrick Rose added 25 points and Joey Dorsey had 15 rebounds for Memphis, which held the Bruins to 37.5 percent shooting.

``Every game we expect to play really well,'' Douglas- Roberts said. ``We play off of each other. No selfishness anywhere. Whoever has it going has it going and that's why we play so well together.''

The Tigers, who ranked 333rd out of 341 Division I basketball programs with a 60.7 free throw percentage, sealed the victory by hitting their final 11 free throws.

Russell Westbrook scored 22 points to lead the Bruins, who were making their record 18th Final Four appearance and third in a row. Freshman Kevin Love added 12 points and 10 rebounds, though he was held to one basket in the second half for UCLA (35-4), which had a 14-game winning streak snapped.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 5, 2008 23:13 EDT