Louisville wins in double OT
NEW YORK -- Terrence Williams scored 21 points and Earl Clark added 17 as No. 12 Louisville beat West Virginia, 82-71, last night in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.
David Padgett added 16 points as the Cardinals (23-8) blew a 17-point lead in the second half before outlasting the upset-minded Mountaineers.
"We've been in a lot of games like this," Padgett said. "We've played in tough situations before."
Edgar Sosa drove the length of the court through most of the West Virginia team and made a lefthanded shot at the buzzer to force overtime for Louisville.
Frank Young had 19 points and Da'Sean Butler added 17 for West Virginia (22-9), which used an 18-0 run in the second half to take its first lead.
Louisville, loser of nine straight at Madison Square Garden since beating Iona Jan. 5, 1984, scored the first 9 points of the second overtime to take a 75-66 lead on Clark's three with 1:24 to go.
Jamie Smalligan, who finished with 13 points, hit two free throws for the Mountaineers' first points of the second extra period.
However, Louisville then went 7 for 8 from the line to seal the win and advance to face Pittsburgh. Williams and Clark scored 5 points apiece in the second OT.
Georgetown 62, Villanova 57 -- Roy Hibbert scored 8 of his 14 points in the ninth-ranked Hoyas' opening 26-2 run, and Georgetown held on for the victory.
The Wildcats made a game of it in the closing minutes, but the huge first-half deficit was too much to overcome. DaJuan Summers got things started with a 3-pointer 2:22 in and the Hoyas kept going from there. Georgetown (24-6) was up, 14-0, before Curtis Sumpter finally got Villanova (22-10) on the scoreboard with a jumper 7:20 into the game.
The Hoyas followed with a 12-0 run to go up, 26-2, at 9:28 on Jeff Green's layup, and opened leads of as many as 25 points three times.
Green, the conference player of the year, added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Hoyas, who shot 42.6 percent (23 of 54) and advanced to tonight's semifinals against Notre Dame. Georgetown has won 13 of its last 14.
Sumpter scored 18 points for Villanova, which had its four-game winning streak end.
Notre Dame 89, Syracuse 83 -- Russell Carter scored 24 points to help the 20th-ranked Fighting Irish end the Orange's run for a third straight championship.
Syracuse (22-10) had won eight straight tournament games -- one short of Connecticut's record of nine set from 1998-2000.
Notre Dame (24-6), which finished fourth in the conference and received a first-round bye, won its sixth straight game.
Paul Harris finished with a career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds for Syracuse. Eric Devendorf added 19 for the Orange.
Colin Falls scored 23 points, including seven 3-pointers, and freshman Luke Harangody added 20 points for the Irish.
Pittsburgh 89, Marquette 79 -- Aaron Gray scored 22 points to help the 13th-ranked Panthers stop the 18th-ranked Golden Eagles.
Sam Young added 17 points and Mike Cook 16 for Pitt (26-6), which lost both regular-season meetings to Marquette.
The Panthers will play second-seeded Louisville in the semifinals tonight.
Dan Fitzgerald matched his career high with 20 points to lead Marquette (24-9).
