Associated Press
The Big East roundup …
NEW YORK ó Freshman Devin Ebanks scored a career-high 20 points to lead scrappy West Virginia to a 74-60 upset of No. 2 Pittsburgh on Thursday night, knocking out the defending Big East tournament champs and advancing to the semifinals for the second straight season.
Alex Ruoff added 18 points and Da’Sean Butler had 16 for West Virginia (23-10), which might be the hottest team in the nation’s deepest conference. The Mountaineers have won four of their last five.
The tournament’s seventh seed got a big assist from DeJuan Blair, the league’s co-player of the year, who spent most of the game on the bench for Pittsburgh (27-4).
Sam Young scored 15 points to lead the Panthers (27-4), whose chances of securing a No. 1 seed in took a big hit.
No 5 Louisville 73, Providence 55
Earl Clark had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Cardinals nearly forced Providence into setting a Big East tournament record for turnovers in a sloppy quarterfinal.
Freshman center Samardo Samuels added 22 points for the No. 1 seed and regular-season conference champions, who’ve won eight straight and are trying to show the NCAA selection committee that they’re deserving of a No. 1 seed when the bracket is announced Sunday.
Weyinmi Efejukuscored 17 to lead the Friars (19-13), who turned the ball over a staggering 26 times.