Pitt upsets Villanova, faces Syracuse for Big East title

Pittsburgh reached the Big East tournament title game for the fifth time in six years and continued the conference’s run of postseason upsets.

The sixth-seeded Panthers (24-6) rolled to a 68-54 win over No. 2 Villanova (25-4) on Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York in the semifinals, and will meet ninth-seeded Syracuse for the title.

Pittsburgh (24-6) and Syracuse both won three games to get to the championship game, just the fourth and fifth times that has happened in tournament history.

Allan Ray, a first-team all-Big East selection and Villanova’s second-leading scorer and rebounder, was hit in the right eye early in the second half and was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital for evaluation.

Syracuse 58, (23) Georgetown 57: Gerry McNamara hit another big 3-pointer to get the Orange within one with 52 seconds left, assisted on Eric Devendorf’s go-ahead basket and caused a turnover with 1.5 seconds left in a victory over Georgetown in the other semifinal game.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Wake Forest 82, (25) North Carolina State 71: Eric Williams scored 20 points to lead the Demon Deacons (17-15) past the Wolfpack (21-9) in a quarterfinal game in Greensboro, N.C.

Wake Forest will face No. 3 Duke in today’s semifinal round.

(3) Duke 80, Miami 76: J.J. Redick had 25 points and made a clutch jumper in the final minute, Shelden Williams had his sixth straight double-double and the Blue Devils (28-3) held off the Hurricanes (16-15) in the quarterfinals.

(10) North Carolina 79, Virginia 67: Reyshawn Terry had 24 points, freshman Tyler Hansbrough added 17 and the Tar Heels (22-6) overcame a sluggish start to beat the Cavaliers (15-14).

North Carolina will play Boston College in a semifinal game today.

(11) Boston College 80, Maryland 66: Craig Smith had 21 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Eagles (25-6) past the Terrapins (19-12).

Big Ten

Michigan State 61, (9) Illinois 56: Paul Davis and Maurice Ager each scored 16 points and Davis added eight rebounds to help the Spartans (22-10) beat the Illini (25-6) in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis.

Michigan State will face No. 20 Iowa in today’s semifinals.

(20) Iowa 67, Minnesota 57: Jeff Horner scored 26 points to lead the Hawkeyes (23-8) to a victory over the Golden Gophers (15-14). Vincent Grier led Minnesota with 29 points.

(7) Ohio State 63, Penn State 56: Ron Lewis scored 17 points and the Buckeyes (24-4) rallied from 12 points down in the second half with a flurry of 3-pointers to beat the Nittany Lions (15-14).

Ohio State will face Indiana in today’s semifinal.

Indiana 61, Wisconsin 56: Marco Killingsworth and Marshall Strickland dominated the second half, combining for 28 points, as the Hoosiers (18-10) held off the Badgers (19-11) in the quarterfinals.

Big 12

(17) Kansas 63, Oklahoma State 62: Sasha Kaun scored 16 points and Mario Chalmers added 15, including a pair of free throws with 19.8 seconds left, helping the Jayhawks (22-8) slip past the Cowboys (17-15) in the quarterfinals in Dallas.

Kansas will face Nebraska in the semifinals today.

Nebraska 69, (22) Oklahoma 63: Jamel White had 22 points to lead the Cornhuskers (19-12) over the Sooners (20-8).

Texas A&M 86, Colorado 53: Joseph Jones had 21 points and Josh Carter 15, including four of Texas A&M’s season-high 12 3-pointers, and the Aggies (21-7) beat the Buffaloes (20-9).

Next up for Texas A&M is Texas.

(8) Texas 77, Texas Tech 70: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to power the Longhorns (26-5) past the Red Raiders (15-17) and hand Tech coach Bob Knight his first losing season since 1970-71.

Southeastern Conference

South Carolina 79, (14) Tennessee 71: Tre Kelley scored 25 points and the Gamecocks (17-14) upset the Volunteers (21-7) in the quarterfinals in Nashville, Tenn.

South Carolina will play Kentucky today in the semifinals.

Kentucky 68, Alabama 61: Bobby Perry scored on a layup with 1:15 left to break a 61-all tie, and the Wildcats (21-11) rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 6:19 to beat the Crimson Tide (17-12).

(17) LSU 92, Vanderbilt 73: Glen Davis matched his career-high of 28 points and finished with 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers (23-7) past the Commodores (17-12). Next up for LSU is Florida.

(16) Florida 74, Arkansas 71: Lee Humphrey scored a career-high 25 points and the Gators (25-6) held on to beat the Razorbacks (22-9).

Patriot League

Bucknell 74, Holy Cross 59: Kevin Bettencourt scored 23 points to help the Bison (26-4) cap a perfect Patriot League season and earn an NCAA berth with a win over the Crusaders (20-12) in the championship game in Harrisburg, Pa.