 |
| Isaiah Jackson (44) offers Rodney Bullock (5) congratulations. Bullock tied Alpha Diallo for a team-high 17 points in the Friars upset victory over No. 1 seed Xavier in the Big East Tournament semifinals. |
Senior point
guard Kyron Cartwright scored 15 points and dished out six assists—including 12
points and five assists during the frantic second-half comeback. Sophomore Alpha Diallo and
senior Rodney Bullock each
scored 17 points, while freshman Nate Watson poured
in 14 points off the bench.
The Musketeers led
43-29 at intermission and maintained a 14-point lead through the first three
minutes, until a breakaway dunk by Diallo closed the gap to 12.
Xavier’s lead
stood at 13 with just under 14 minutes left in regulation when freshman Makai
Ashton-Langford came off the bench and provided a spark by scoring consecutive
buckets, before Diallo finished through contact to trim the Musketeers lead to nine,
52-43.
Cartwright then
hit a runner in the lane and followed that by drilling a fall-away at the baseline
to cut the Xavier advantage to seven,
56-49 with 9:45 left in regulation.
Watson provided the biggest lift for the Friars, entering the
game and immediately dominating the offensive paint. When the Arlington, Va.,
native scored straight at the rim, Xavier led by 59-57 with 6:30 left in
regulation. Bullock, who, like Watson, calls Arlington, Va., home, completed
the comeback, driving the lane and hitting a floater to knot the score at 64 apiece
with 3:33 remaining in regulation.
The Friars had a couple
of chances to take the lead but failed to convert, and two free throws by Musketeers
star Trevon Bluiett gave Xavier a 66-64 edge.
The game went
into overtime tied, 68-68, when a Bluiett bucket gave Xavier the first lead of
the extra stanza, 70-68.
Watson hit
one-of-two at the line, and after an Xavier miss, Diallo banged in a turnaround
in the lane to put the Friars up by the thinnest of margins, 71-70, with a
minute left in OT. Cartwright native, then nailed a pull-up jumper that gave PC
a 73-70 lead with 49 seconds remaining in overtime.
After Xavier cut
the Friar lead to 73-72, the Musketeers had a chance to take the lead. But
Cartwright did a magnificent defensive job, stepping in to force a charge on
J.P. Macura with 7.7 ticks left, giving the Friars the ball.
Diallo took the
inbounds pass and was immediately fouled, sending the New York native to the
free-throw line where, playing in front of his hometown fans, he hit the front
end of a one-and-one. Diallo missed the second, but the swarming Friar “D”
prevented Xavier from getting off a potentially game-tying shot that could have
sent the game into a second OT session.
With the victory,
the Friars became just the second team in Big East Tournament history to win
back-to-back overtime games. (Syracuse is the other, having won quarterfinal
and semifinal games in OT in 2009.) The win also marked the first time ever the
Friars defeated Top-5 teams three times in the same season. In addition, the
14-point halftime deficit is tied for third largest comeback in Big East
Tournament history.
The win also sends
PC to the Big East Tournament Championship against Villanova. The No. 2/3 ranked Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the BET. This will be the Friars' third all-time appearance in the Big East Tournament Championship game, and their first 2014. For the record, the Friars are 2-0 in Big East
Tournament Championship games, having claimed the title in 1994 and 2014.Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on FOX. The game, as always, will also be broadcast on WEEI 103.7 FM with Joey Hassett and John Rooke calling the action.
—with staff reports
No comments:
Post a Comment