Hoyas upset Villanova to reach semis
Patrick Ewing and Georgetown are making some noise at Madison Square Garden again.
It has been a while.
The Hoyas are back in the Big East Tournament semifinals for the first time in six years, with the former Georgetown and Knicks star leading the way.
Dante Harris made two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to cap a perfect game from the line for Georgetown, and the Hoyas upset No. 14 Villanova 72-71 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Hoyas (11-12) will play fifth-seeded Seton Hall on Friday night. Georgetown last reached the Big East semifinals in 2015. The Hoyas have not won the tournament since 2007.
“We took another step — in my house, by the way. This is my house,” Ewing said in a postgame television interview. “It’s a great win. Huge win.”
Before Ewing became a Hall of Fame center for the Knicks, his Georgetown teams in the mid-1980s were the beasts of the Big East. Villanova has taken over that role in recent years, winning the last three tournament titles and dominating the Hoyas in the process.
Villanova had won four straight meetings and 13 of 15 against the Hoyas before Thursday.
“We played against the Cadillac, the Bentley, whatever you want to call them, of the Big East — the class of the Big East. And once upon a time that was us. But we took a huge step to be able to knock them off,” Ewing said.
Harris led the way with 18 points and drew a foul on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl driving to the basket with 4.7 seconds to go and the Hoyas down one.
Harris rattled in the first and swished the second to make Georgetown 23 of 23 from the line, the first time a team has shot 100% on at least 20 attempts in the Big East Tournament.
With no timeouts left, Caleb Daniels rushed up court and got off a long 3-pointer in traffic for Villanova, but it missed badly.
The top-seeded Wildcats (16-6), playing without injured star Collin Gillespie, had advanced to the Big East semifinals the last five times the tournament was completed.
Baylor avoids shocker: MaCio Teague scored 24 points, Davion Mitchell added 23 and No. 2 Baylor held on to beat Kansas State 74-68 on Thursday and avoid what would have been one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Big 12 Tournament.
The top-seeded Bears (22-1) rolled into T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, after their first regular-season conference title since 1950, three straight wins over ranked teams and with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament nearly locked up.
Yet the Wildcats (9-20), who lost their two regular-season games to Baylor by an average of 40 points, never allowed the high-powered Bears to slip away.
Still, Baylor held on and earned a semifinal date with No. 12 Oklahoma State, which edged No. 10 West Virginia 72-69.
Layups: Reece Beekman hit a 3 as time expired to lift No. 16 Virginia over Syracuse 72-69 and into the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. The top-seeded Cavaliers (18-6) trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half as they struggled to contain Orange guard Buddy Boeheim, who finished with a careerhigh 31 points. Virginia next faces Georgia Tech . ... Duane Washington Jr. and Justice Sueing each scored 16 points and No. 9 Ohio State held off a late charge to beat Minnesota 79-75 at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes (19-8) snapped a four-game losing streak and will face No. 21 Purdue in the quarterfinals.