NEW ORLEANS (REUTERS) — Old friends and coaching legends Jim Boeheim and Roy Williams will face off in Monday’s NCAA Tournament championship game after the Syracuse Orangemen and the Kansas Jayhawks won their semi-finals Saturday.

Carmelo Anthony had 33 points and 14 rebounds in a dominating performance to give the Syracuse Orangemen a 95-84 win over the Texas Longhorns, sending Boeheim’s team to the title game for the third time.

Earlier, Keith Langford scored 23 points and senior Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Miles added 18 each as the Jayhawks rolled over the Marquette Golden Eagles 94-61, putting Williams in the championship game for the second time.

The two veteran coaches are good friends off the court, and one will finally have the stigma of never having won “The Big One” removed for good.

“We said, if we both get there on Monday night, one of us will not have to listen to you guys (the media) anymore,” Boeheim said with a smile.

“That’s what you’re in the game for, you want to win it, you don’t want to just get there.

“That’s what we both want. That’s what all the players want.”

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After a tightly contested first 30 minutes, Anthony took over in the later part of the second half to help Syracuse pull away.

Syracuse (29-5) led by as many as nine points in the first half and never trailed, carrying a 48-45 lead into intermission.

“Our confidence is pretty high right now,” Anthony said. “We made it to the championship. It don’t get any better than this, playing in a championship game. The Final Four is the biggest event ever besides the Super Bowl. Hopefully we get a ring, a championship out of it.”

Texas (26-7) stayed in the game in the first half, ending the half on a 16-7 run to close to within three thanks to 20 points from Brandon Mouton, who was 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

The Orangemen pulled away in the second half, however, with a pair of free throws from Hakim Warrick, completing a 13-4 run that put Syracuse up by nine points again, 74-65, with 7:50 left.

Texas never got closer than five points.

“Every time they needed to make a big play they made it,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “Every point they scored you can almost attribute to Carmelo when he’s out there. Obviously we’re disappointed, yet as I reflect I think we broke down a lot of barriers this year for Texas basketball.”

Gerry McNamara added 19 points for the Orangemen, while Warrick had 18.

Mouton led Texas with 25 points while Ford added 12 points and 13 assists.

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Kansas (30-7) came out running and never trailed against the upstart Golden Eagles, taking a 59-30 halftime lead.

Nick Collison, the other senior in the Jayhawks’ starting lineup, added 12 points and 15 rebounds.

“We did a great job,” Williams said. “I feel very, very fortunate and very, very pleased. I do think every coach has big-time dreams. If you’re a coach at Kansas with Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich on your team, you should have big-time dreams. We’re going to try and work as hard as we possibly can to see if we can make those dreams come true.”

Marquette (27-6) appeared rattled right from the start and, despite the cheers from the majority of the sell-out crowd in attendance, was badly outplayed in the first half thanks to hot Kansas shooting and a stifling Jayhawk defense.

“They (the Jayhawks) played a great, great basketball game in every facet,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “We missed so many easy shots around the basket, we could never get a run going and get some confidence.”

Any second-half comeback thoughts by the Golden Eagles were quickly put to rest as Kansas went on an 8-0 run to start the second half and led by as many as 43 points in the second half.

Kansas ended the first half and started the second half on identical 18-4 runs.

“Our goal was to win a national championship from Day One this season,” Collison said. “We’re definitely not surprised. It’s everybody’s dream to play in the national championship game and win it … all we have to do is focus on who we play.”

The Golden Eagles were led by Dwyane Wade with 19 points and Robert Jackson, who had 15 points and nine rebounds.

Scott Merritt added 12 points and 11 rebounds.