By JB Ellis
The final game of the night pitted Villanova (6) vs Marquette (3). Villanova who slept walked through a late night game vs DePaul the night before came ready to play and challenged Marquette all game long. At the half Villanova had a slim one point advantage 29-28.
Marquette started to dominate early in the second half and built an 8 point lead at 47-39 halfway through the second half before Nova responded and went on a 12-3 run to take a 51-50 lead. The two teams would battle all the way to the buzzer both having chances to win the game. Marquette had an inbound play with 2.3 seconds left and got a layup opportunity that went in. The referees reviewed the bucket and determined it was just after the buzzer and we would have bonus time, an extra 5 minutes of Big East Basketball.
In overtime Marquette started to pull away but a flurry of fouls allowed Nova to tie the game again at 63 with 2:09 left. The game remained tight till the last 1:56 when Chase Ross hit a 3 for Marquette and then Bomba blocked a Joplin layup and Marquette would hit 3 more free throws and win a thriller 71-65.
Villanova was led by Eric Dixon’s double double 19 pts and 11 rebounds and Armstrong 15pts and Bamba chipped in 12. Marquette had four players in double figures led by Kam Jones 18 and Stevie Mitchell with 15.
The Semifinals are set for later today with UConn (1) vs St Johns (5) at 530 pm eastern followed by Providence (7) vs Marquette (3) at 8pm. Day two of the tournament saw 3 competitive games and UConn showing their dominance in the 1st game of the day.
