Syracuse fans everywhere now have a new hero; whoever said Gerry McNamara was overrated. The senior guard came through again in the clutch, as the Orange pulled off another thriller at Madison Square Garden, a 58-57 win over Georgetown. Syracuse trailed for the entire game, and trailed by 15 at halftime, before McNamara took over. McNamara finished with 17, and his three-point shooting helped the Orange come back. His three with 52 seconds left cut the Hoya lead to one, then McNamara hit Eric Devendorf with a beautiful bounce pass on the fast break, leading to a layup and Syracuse???s first and only lead with nine seconds left. McNamara then forced a traveling violation on Ashanti Cook, giving Syracuse the victory and a spot in Saturday???s Championship game, where they will face Pitt.
Pittsburgh clinched its fifth Championship game appearance in six years with a 68-54 victory over #2 Villanova. Antonio Graves led the Panthers with 18 points off the bench, and Randy Foye had 26 in a losing effort for the Wildcats. Villanova had to play most of the second half without All-American guard Allen Ray, who suffered a gruesome eye injury just 32 seconds into the second half when he was accidentally hit in the eye by Carl Krauser. Ray was taken to an area hospital, and may be back in time for the NCAA Tournament, coach Jay Wright told the Associated Press. Without Ray, Villanova was hurting big time, with their leader out with what appeared to be a very serious injury at the time. The Wildcats were able to chip away a little bit at the Pitt lead, but could not overcome the Panthers.
The BIG EAST Championship Game will be at 7:00 Saturday night, on ESPN.
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