No. 19 Villanova Tops No. 22 Pitt 67-58

By

Posted 5:56PM on Thursday, March 10, 2005

NEW YORK (AP) - Randy Foye scored 23 points and No. 19 Villanova won its eighth straight game, beating No. 22 Pittsburgh 67-58 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. The Wildcats (22-6) advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year where they will face eighth-seeded West Virginia. The Mountaineers (20-9) beat top-seeded Boston College 78-72 on Thursday. The loss ended Pittsburgh's four-year run of championship game appearances. The Panthers' only title in that span came in 2003. Pittsburgh (20-8) entered the game as the second-best shooting team in the conference at 47.8 percent. The Panthers shot a season-worst 35 percent (20-for-57) against Villanova, going 5-for-25 in the first half. The 58 points were the second-lowest total of the season for the Panthers. Villanova entered the game as the Big East's second-leading defensive team allowing 62.3 points and the Wildcats were third in field goal percentage defense at 39.6. The Wildcats beat Pittsburgh 80-72 in the team's only meeting this season. Pittsburgh didn't have a field goal over the final 8 1/2 minutes of the first half, going 0-for-9 and committing four turnovers. The Wildcats closed the half with a 14-5 run to take a 31-19 lead. Villanova got the lead to 17 points twice, the last time at 42-25 on two free throws by Foye with 13:15 left. Pittsburgh finally started to hit some shots and after missing its first nine 3-point attempts, Carl Krauser and Antonio Graves made consecutive 3s to get the Panthers within 46-39 with 7:50 to play. Curtis Sumpter, who had 17 points, hit a 3 on the next possession and then a long jumper to start a 13-4 run that ended with a turnaround by Sumpter that made it 59-43 with 3:53 to go. Allan Ray added 18 points for the Wildcats, who only shot 33 percent for the game, but were 26-for-30 from the free throw line. Krauser had 18 points for the Panthers, while Chris Taft had 10. Villanova has a 6-1 all-time record against Pittsburgh in the Big East tournament.