Orange crusher
NEW YORK — After knocking off the top-ranked team in the country, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim could not remember a bigger victory for his Orange.
Gerry McNamara led Syracuse to an 86-84 overtime victory over No. 1 Connecticut on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament, tying the game on a 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left in regulation.
"I'd say it's one of the best, if not the best that we've ever had at Syracuse," said Boeheim, who has 724 wins and captured an NCAA title in 2003.
The win set up a matchup with No. 23 Georgetown tonight after the Hoyas held off Marquette 62-59.
It will be the 12th time the schools have met in the tournament, with Georgetown leading 6-5. Five of the meetings came in championship games, with Georgetown winning four.
"It's Georgetown-Syracuse at the Garden," said Hoyas Coach John Thompson III. "That says it all if anybody knows anything about the history of this league."
Georgetown won the only regular-season meeting on Feb. 25, beating Syracuse 68-53.
It was the second straight game McNamara came up with a big shot for the defending Big East tournament champions. His 3-pointer with a half-second left Wednesday gave ninth-seeded Syracuse (21-11) a 74-73 victory over Cincinnati.
"He amazes me every time I see him play. He has more guts than anybody I've ever coached," said Boeheim, who apologized for using profanity in defending McNamara on Wednesday after local media reported the player was overrated. "As soon as he released it, there was never a doubt. There was nothing but net."
Villanova, the Big East's regular-season co-champion with No. 1 Connecticut, trailed by one early in the second half, but avoided the type of upset that eliminated the Huskies earlier in the day with a 87-55 win over Rutgers.
"We all came down to eat dinner together and I just got up in front of them and said, 'Hey, we just saw what happened,"' Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "I said, 'Everyone's been talking about a matchup with UConn, and it's not going to happen now for them. If we don't beat Rutgers, it's not going to happen (for us)."'
Will Sheridan added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (25-3), who will play No. 15 Pittsburgh, which beat No. 19 West Virginia 68-57.
With Connecticut, Marquette and West Virginia's losses, three of the four teams that had first-round byes were beaten.
No. 2 Villanova 87, Rutgers 55Allan Ray scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half to lead Villanova.Rutgers was looking for its third straight win since coach Gary Waters announced his resignation on March 1. It looked for a half that the Scarlet Knights (18-13) could pull off the upset.Quincy Douby scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half for Rutgers."He hit some deep, deep shots and some tough shots," Wright said of Douby. "I think he was just incredible in the first half."
No. 23 Georgetown 62, Marquette 59Brandon Bowman went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute to help Georgetown advance.Steve Novak hit his sixth 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left to bring Marquette within 60-59. But Bowman restored the three-point lead with two free throws with 5.1 seconds left. Jerel McNeal missed a 30-footer at the buzzer.
