Big East Tournament Semifinals: Hoyas vs. Irish and Cardinals vs. Panthers

Friday, 09 March 2007

Top-seeded and 9 Big East Tournament Semifinals: Hoyas vs. Irish and Cardinals vs. Panthers ^th ranked Georgetown escaped a tight quarterfinal round game against ninth seeded Villanova to advance into the semifinals of the Big East Tournament to play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame Friday at 7 p.m. EST at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The 20^th ranked Irish advanced to the semifinals by defeating Syracuse. Two-seed Louisville will take on third seed Pitt in the second game of the semifinal round at 9:30 p.m. The winners of the two games will play for the Big East Championship Game on Saturday at 9 p.m.

The Hoya’s are favored in their game with the Irish by a -4.0 chalk by most offshore sportsbooks with a 134 ½ total. The game is the second between the schools with Georgetown winning the previous contest on Jan. 6^th by a score of 66-48 easily covering the -3 ½ point betting line. The UNDER (137) cashed in totals betting.

In their game with Villanova , Georgetown opened up a 19-point lead at halftime, withstood a late run and hit eight of 10 free throws in the final five minutes to hang on and beat the Wildcats, 62-57 Thursday afternoon. It was the 12th win in the last 13 games for the Hoyas, who improved to 24-6 overall, while Villanova falls to 22-10.

Russell Carter scored 24 points to help No. 20 Notre Dame beat Syracuse 89-83 ending the Orange's run for a third straight championship. Syracuse had won the last two Big East championships and eight straight tournament games. Notre Dame (24-6), which finished fourth in the conference and received a first-round bye, won its sixth straight game. The Irish won 23 games in the regular season, their most since the 1985-86 season.

Pitt is a -3.0 point favorite in its game with Louisville with the total set at 126. During the regular Big East season in the only meeting between the schools, the Cardinals blasted the favored (-9.0) Panthers by a score of 66-53.

Aaron Gray scored 22 points to help No. 13 Pittsburgh beat No. 18 Marquette 89-79 in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament Thursday night. Sam Young added 17 and Mike Cook 16 for Pitt (26-6), which lost both regular-season meetings to Marquette - including a 75-71 defeat on Saturday that spoiled the Panthers' chances of getting a share of the conference title. Pitt has played in five of the last six tournament title games.

Terrence Williams scored 21 points and Earl Clark added 17 as Louisville beat West Virginia 82-71 in Thursday’s quarterfinals. David Padgett added 16 points as the Cardinals blew a 17-point lead in the second half before outlasting the upset-minded Mountaineers. Louisville won its season-high seventh straight and 11th in the last 13 games.

All betting lines and totals can be found at WagerWeb.com.