Big East Conference Tournament: In case any doubt lingered, March Madness is officially upon the world of college basketball. No. 8 Syracuse provided what may be the most noteworthy upset of the entire Big East Conference Tournament with an 86-84 overtime win against No. 1 Connecticut. Senior guard Gerry McNamara reprised his role of Syracuse savior by draining a game-tying three-pointer to force overtime. He finished with 17 points and 13 assists as Syracuse advances to the semifinals. More importantly, the signature victory could propel the Orange into the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid despite their recent struggles. They could steal the spot formerly belonging to No. 7 Seton Hall, which lost to No. 10 Rutgers in the opening round Wednesday.
No. 5 Georgetown slipped past No. 4 Marquette 62-59 as the Hoyas hit critical free throws down the stretch to end the Golden Eagles’ attempted rally. Trailing by eight with 40 seconds remaining, Marquette scored six consecutive points to cut the lead to two with 12 seconds remaining. Brandon Bowman hit four free throws in the closing seconds to keep Georgetown out of reach. The Hoyas will play Syracuse in the semifinals.
No. 2 Villanova used a dominating second half to dispatch No. 10 Rutgers 87-55. Senior guard Allan Ray led the Wildcats with 26 points, including 19 in the second half, in which Villanova outscored Rutgers 53-22. The Scarlet Knights kept the game close in the first half as junior guard Quincy Douby scored 24 points in the first half. But the Wildcats figured out how to defend Douby during halftime and held him to seven second-half points. Villanova plays the winner of No. 3 West Virginia vs. No. 6 Pittsburgh.
The final game Thursday night saw two neighboring ranked squads clash – 6-seed Pittsburgh against 3-seed West Virginia, before Pitt edged out the victory, 68-57. West Virginia led at the half 31-24, led by big man Kevin Pittsnogle’s 22 points, but the Panthers closed the gap with 15 minutes remaining on the strength of freshman Sam Young’s 14 points and 11 rebounds. Over the final ten minutes there were four ties and five lead changes, but Pitt took the lead for good with six minutes remaining, and finished with a 9-0 run. Young made his first career start due to back spasms that caused junior forward Levon Kendall to sit the game out, and teammate Aaron Gray notched 19 points and 15 boards to lead the Panthers. [3/09/06]
