Big East Tournament Live-Blog Session 7

Semifinals tonight and we start with Villanova taking on top seed Louisville while West Virginia plays what is left of Syracuse after their six overtimes classic against UConn last night.

Running a little late today, but hit me up with questions and comments at ContactBIAH@gmail.com.

- Harris gets two more free throws. Makes the first. Misss the second. But Bryant misses a three and Devo gets a run out lay-up. Cuse wins 74-69.

- Ebanks makes both. WV has it down to two with twenty seconds left. Don't let Flynn get it.

- Harris gets fouled. Two shots. Makes first. Misses second. But he fouls at the other end, Ebanks to the line.

- Jones is fouled after Ruoff misses a tough three. 28.2 left, 70-67. Do not let Flynn get this ball. He won't miss at the line.

- Devo is bumped on a drive, two shots. Makes one, 70-65 Cuse. 46.5 left.

- 69-65 after a Butler jumper. Big stop here.

- and Flynn draws the foul on Smith. He is gone. Flynn shooting two. These are almost guaranteed. I still can't believe Ebanks hit both free throws.

- Onuaku O-board and Flynn lay-up. Four point lead.

- Harris starts the OT session off with a bucket. 65-63.

- Cuse wins the tip.

- Freshman hit both. OT. Wow. Ebanks is a baller. He has 20 points now.

- More OT? Ebanks makes the first.

- Cuse gets the call this time. Flynn to the line for two. He hits one.

- Smith with a follow up lay-up and Cuse is now up 62-61 with 38 seconds and a ten second difference. I would bet my life on the ball being in Flynn's hands.

- How was that not a foul? And I am perfectly in line with the left out of bounds line, and Bryant's hand landed out of bounds before he called timeouit. Should be Cuse ball too.

- Ebanks was laughing going back down court after hitting that shot.

- Flynn answers a Bryant jumper with two free throws. 62-57 with 2 minutes left.

- What a pass from Flynn to Devo in the corner for the three. Going full speed on the right side of the court he takes an in and out dribble, and one more dribble until he is about a step outside the NBA block with Bryant draped all over, and mid-stride going full speed he throws a cross court bounce pass on the money to Devo. That is an amazing pass.

- Devo hits a three out of the under 8 timeout, and they are right back up 4. Great game right now. Cuse does not look tired yet. Really running the floor we'll the last few minutes.

- Back to back dunks by Jackson and Cuse is up 51-50.

- Thoroughman jumps a passing lane and takes it the distance for a lay-up. Interesting that we haven't seen Jones for WV tonight. He has been pretty good in the two Mountaineer games so far.

- After Jonny Flynn knocks down a three, Ongenaet makes a steal and then picks up a loose ball on the offensive end and finishes with a dunk. 47-45 Cuse.

- After a Ruoff three makes it a four point lead and 13-2 run, Rautins answers with a three and Devo gets fouled. 42-41 WV with 15 left. WV has switched to a switching man-to-man defense, and it has thrown off the Orange, who had missed a bunch of shots in a row (I wanna say five).

- WVU scored seven straight, cutting the lead to 38-36. And out of the timeout Butler hits a three. He and Ruoff have 14 each.

- Bryant hits a three to end it, but Devo hit a 60 footer at the buzzer. This one counts. 36-29 at the half.

- West Virginia is having tons of issues against the Cuse zone, and are now down 30-22. They have gone to their 1-3-1 zone, and it is not working right now as the Orange are getting open looks at will. Rautins has hit three in the last few minutes. 33-26 14 seconds left.

- The Orange are up 25-20 at the under 4 timeout, and they are really throwing some beautiful passes. Ongenaet had a little touch pass to Onuaku (who was blocked at the rim). The ball ended up in Rautins hands, who fired a one-handed, no look pass to Onuaku through the entire defense (he was again blocked at the rim).

- The Cuse have now scored 11 straight and held WVU scoreless for about six minutes.

- Maybe legs are starting to go. Rautins just airballed a three, and the possession before that Flynn was dreadfully short on a three.

- The Cuse have scored seven straight to take a three point lead into the under 8 timeout.


- Ruoff and Rautins traded threes. The Cuse dewfense is very active right now. They trapped Ebanks in the corner two possessions in a row. They are struggling offensively right now. Flynn is getting penetration, but he isn't beating his man and he isn't drawing defenders. He hits a three to make it 18-17.

- Under 12 timeout and it is 13-11 WV. Butler has 7 points. I wonder how long Cuse is going to be able to keep up this effort because they are playing hard. You think Flynn sits this game?

- We are at the under 16 timeout and it is 7-4 WVU.

- The Cuse are really attacking the glass early. It is 7-2 WVU early and Butler has five, but legs don't seem to be an issue yet. It is going to effect them more defensively than offensively.

- We've tipped for Cuse WVU and we might as well be in the Carrier Dome.

- And it is over. L'Ville wins 69-55 and advances to tomorrow's final. Fisher and Cunningham had 14 points to lead the Wildcats. Earl Clark had 17 points, 7 boards, and 4 dimes while Jerry Smith added 16. T-Will had a typical T-Will day: 5 points, 11 boards, and 6 assists.

- Clark tips in a missed McGee lay-up and the Cards go up 11 with 1:22 left. They now have 19 second chance points.

- Nova is in trouble. They can't score right now and are down 9 with under two minutes. They have 21 second half points.

- After two Jennings buckets inside, Fisher answers with a three. 60-53. Nova is fighting, but the Cards just look too talented.

- And after a T-Will dunk, it is 56-50. When the Cards press is working well, they have so many athletes that it is devastating.

- Nova finally got it tied up, but the Cards answered with a McGee three from deep in the corner. Nova turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, and after a beautiful pass from Williams to Jennings, we reach to under 8 timeout. 53-50 L'Ville.

- Villanova is making a comeback. 48-46. The Wildcats move the ball so well offensively.

- Smith takes the ball to the rim and draws a foul, and-1. 45-41, L'Ville with 11:48 left. This game is going to be decided by Nova's defense. When they are getting stops, the Cards cannot set up their press, which is the reason that Louisville is ahead right now.

- Louisville is 10-20 for deep after Knowles hits a three. 43-36. The Cards press and ability to get into has been the difference in the game.

- Louisville's press is really starting to be effective as Villanova is rushing offensively. Louisville has gone on a 14-2 run to take a 40-36 lead with 16:24 left. Smith has knocked down two three's in the run.

- Louisville has scored six quick points to kick off the second half. 34-32. Clark has 10 points.

- So we head to the half with Villanova up 34-26. The Wildcats are doing it with defense. They have held the Cards to just 26 points in the half and 30% shooting.

- After a beautiful floater by Scottie Reynolds over Jennings, Sosa penetrates and finds Jennings who draws a foul. 33-26 after he hits one.

- Jennings just picked up his second foul as well.

- So after a Williams turnover on an errant pass, the Cats go the other way and Corey Fisher finishes a lay-up and-1. T-Will has been very underwhelming in the game and a half he has played in this tournament. I am starting to question naming him Big East player of the year.

- The Cards reel off five straight very quickly to cut it back to five.

- Cunningham has 12 and 5 and Fisher just hit his second three as Nova has taken a 26-16 lead. If they could just keep L'Ville from getting open threes. The Cards are 4-7 from deep to stay in it.

- For two teams that aren't great draws in NYC, the Garden is pretty full. The one color noticably missing? Orange. Not surprising.

- Nova has taken a 21-16 lead and Samuels just picked up his second foul. Nova is doing it with defense right now. The Cards just don't look in sync, and since they aren't scoring, they are not able to set up their press.

- I seriouslý have no idea how Syracuse can come back and play again tonight. I'm exhausted just writing about it.

- We are at the under 12 timeout, and Nova is up 14-13. Surprisingly, the Wildcats are doing a solid job thus far on the interior. Louisville has a size and strength advantage, but guys like Anderson and Clark are tough as nails.

- I am here. Nova has taken a 9-6 lead with 14 left in the half. Cunningham has 6 for the Wildcats.