NEW YORK (AP) -Jessie Sapp scored 23 points and No. 9 Georgetown tied a Big East tournament record with 17 3-pointers, fending off a second-half comeback to beat Villanova 82-63 on Thursday in the second round.
Jonathan Wallace hit five 3s and had 19 of his 20 points in the first half for the defending champion Hoyas (26-4), who advanced to play fifth-seeded West Virginia in the semifinals on Friday.
DeJuan Summers added 19 points for Georgetown, winners of five straight. All-Big East center Roy Hibbert, who was 0-for-2 from the field and had no points and just four rebounds before fouling out with 5:09 left.
Villanova (20-12) went on a 26-9 run and took a 45-43 lead on Dante Cunningham’s two free throws with 13:41 left. Antonio Pena’s putback moments later gave the heavy underdogs a four-point lead.
Sapp converted a three-point play to put Georgetown ahead 51-50 with 12:04 to go. He followed with a 3-pointer to begin building the lead and the Hoyas pulled away.
West Virginia 78, No. 15 Connecticut 72
NEW YORK (AP) – Joe Alexander continued his scoring streak with a career-high 34 points and West Virginia earned its second appearance in the Big East semifinals.
Alexander was 12-for-22 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free throw line as West Virginia led throughout the entire second half. The Mountaineers’ biggest lead was 13 points, the last time at 61-48 with 9:18 left, and they held off a run that had the Huskies as close as 70-65 on a driving layup by A.J. Price with 2:02 to play.
Price had 22 points for the Huskies (24-8), who have lost their last four games in the Big East tournament, a streak that started with in the semifinals in 2005.
Atlantic 10
No. 10 Xavier 74, Dayton 65
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Josh Duncan scored 16 points and No. 10 Xavier limited Dayton to five baskets in the final 12 minutes.
C.J. Anderson added 15 points, Stanley Burrell had 13, Drew Lavender 12 and Derrick Brown 11 as the top-seeded Musketeers (27-5) beat Dayton (21-10) for the third time this season.
The Musketeers advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the seventh straight year. They will play fifth-seeded Saint Joseph.
r. Burrell also nailed a 3-pointer as the Musketeers took a 58-48 lead.
Mountain West
No. 24 BYU 89, Colorado State 62
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Lee Cummard, the conference co-player of the year, scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 24 BYU piled up the points to advance to the Mountain West title game.
Sam Burgess had 13 points, Jonathan Tavernari and Chris Collinsworth each added 12 and Trent Plaisted 11 for the top-seeded Cougars (26-6), who shot 65 percent from the field.
The Rams (7-25), who snapped a school record 17-game skid with a win over Wyoming in the play-in game, didn’t have any players in double figures. Andre McFarland, Marcus Walker, Adam Nigon and Willis Gardner scored nine each.
The Rams led for much of the first half and trailed just 40-34 at the break following David Cohen’s hook shot from behind the backboard at the buzzer.
Southeastern Conference
No. 18 Vanderbilt 93, Auburn 82
ATLANTA (AP) – A.J. Ogilvy scored a career-best 27 points and Shan Foster added 26 after being named the top player on the coaches’ All-SEC team earlier in the week, leading No. 18 Vanderbilt in the opening round.
The Commodores (26-6) shot 67 percent (33 of 49) from the field, falling just short of the conference tournament record. They advanced to face Arkansas in the quarterfinals.
Auburn (14-16) will miss out on a postseason berth for the fifth year in a row. Rasheem Barrett scored 20 points to lead four Tigers players in double figures. Senior Frank Barrett chipped in with 17 before fouling out of his final college game with less than a minute to go.
Vanderbilt built a double-digit lead 5 1/2 minutes into the game, and was comfortably out front most of the first half with the Big Two leading the way. Foster had 19 points and Ogilvy 14 by halftime.
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