In a four-day run that will long reverberate in Big East Conference lore, Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara got more ink in the New York tabloids than Paris Hilton and crammed a career's worth of clutch moments into a long weekend.
So it is only fitting that in the Big East tournament final on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, McNamara made sure that Syracuse (23-11) completed this most improbable run.
With the familiar chants of "Gerry, Gerry" echoing through the Garden all night, McNamara scored 14 points and dished out six assists as Syracuse stunningly defended its tournament title.
The ninth-seeded Orange's 65-61 victory against sixth-seeded Pittsburgh makes Syracuse the lowest-seeded team to win the Big East tournament in its 27 years. If McNamara had decided to skip the final and catch a Broadway show, he would still have been the unanimous selection for the tournament most valuable player. But Saturday night, McNamara let his teammates get in on the act.
Demetris Nichols led the Orange with 15 points, Terrence Roberts added 13, and Darryl Watkins scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
But after Pittsburgh (24-7) methodically erased a 15-point Syracuse lead midway through the second half, McNamara and his teammates made sure the Panthers' momentum did not last. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called a 30-second timeout, McNamara immediately made a 3-pointer from the right side with 8 minutes 15 seconds remaining, and the Orange never trailed again.
By squeezing out three games in three nights by a total of four points, Syracuse made the NCAA tournament and Big East history. The Orange became the first Big East team to win a game the day after winning an overtime game. The previous 16 teams had failed.
No. 7 Ohio State 52, indiana 51
Indiana drew first blood in its semifinal with Ohio State on Saturday afternoon in the Big Ten Conference tournament, and it was not just the one-point lead the Hoosiers held at halftime before the Buckeyes eventually defeated them, 52-51.
The blood trickled from the left eye of J.J. Sullinger of Ohio State. After he sank a short shot on his way to a game-high 19 points, his eyelid was cut by the elbow of Indiana's Earl Calloway. As the other players headed up the floor, some exchanged angry bumps, shoves and words.
No fouls were called. After all, this is the Big Ten, full of Buckeyes, Hawkeyes and black eyes, where rugged basketball games sometimes resemble football games in point totals and collisions.
After a timeout, tempers cooled, Sullinger's cut was closed and Ohio State eventually prevailed on a layup by Matt Sylvester off a pass from Terence Dials with 36 seconds left. "I've been giving him assists here for five years," Sylvester said of Dials. "It's about time he gave me one."
The Buckeyes (25-4) will meet Iowa (24-8) on Sunday for the conference tournament championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes finished tied for second in the regular season with Illinois, both teams one game behind the champion Buckeyes. In Saturday's other semifinal, Iowa defeated Michigan State, 53-48.
Indiana had two chances to win in the final seconds, but Marco Killingsworth first missed a left-handed hook over Dials. After the Hoosiers secured the rebound, Roderick Wilmont -- their leading scorer with 16 points -- bounced a short jumper off the rim from the right of the lane as the horn sounded.
RSS