It’s Getting Shipshape for Seton Hall

Seton Hall is looking good and not looking back.

The Pirates, who didn’t clinch a spot in the Big East tournament until the last game of the regular season, advanced to the semifinals with a 58-40 victory over No. 18-ranked Georgetown on Thursday in New York.

A season in which Seton Hall started with a Top-10 ranking and then lost eight of nine games in one stretch has taken a sudden turn.

The Pirates (16-13) opened the second half with a 24-3 run to take control. Seton Hall held Georgetown (23-7) to half its season scoring average in matching the fewest points allowed in a Big East tournament game. The Hoyas scored only 14 points in the second half.

“Sometimes it isn’t up to any of us to try to judge what the timing of things should be,” Seton Hall Coach Tommy Amaker said. “We’re grateful we’re in the position we’re in right now. We wish we could have done a lot of things early. You can’t look back and regret those kinds of things. We just know that things are moving forward with us and it’s funny how things can come around.”

Seton Hall, which defeated St. John’s by 12 points in the tournament opener, will play No. 10 Boston College (24-4) today. Troy Bell, the Big East co-player of the year, made 10 of 15 shots and scored 25 points to lead Boston College to a 93-79 victory over Villanova 18-12).

Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy, who shared the player of the year honor with Bell, failed to score in double figures for the first time in 79 games--getting eight points in the No. 19 Irish’s 66-54 loss to Pittsburgh (17-12). Murphy, averaging 22.8 points, was two-for-11 shooting as Notre Dame fell to 19-9. In his last three games, Murphy made only 16 of 46 shots.

Pittsburgh advances against No. 17 Syracuse (24-7), a 55-54 winner over Providence (21-9). It was the 599th career victory for Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim.

ATLANTIC COAST

Will Solomon--the ACC’s third-leading scorer at 19.8 points a game--struggled to get 13 points for Clemson in the tournament opener at Atlanta, but scored a go-ahead three-point basket with 1:45 left in a 66-64 victory over Florida State. Clemson (12-18) plays No. 6 North Carolina (23-5) today. The Tigers upset the then No. 1-ranked Tar Heels on Feb. 18--their team’s only victory in 13 games prior to beating Florida State (9-21).

ATLANTIC 10

Xavier (21-6) had its NCAA tournament hopes jeopardized by an 83-74 loss to George Washington (13-17) in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. George Washington’s next opponent is Temple (19-12) a 76-63 winner over Dayton (19-12) as Quincy Wadley scored 23 points on eight-for-12 shooting. Temple has reached the tournament semifinals every year since it joined the Atlantic 10 in 1983 and has won the championship five times, including last year. Guard Jameer Nelson set career highs with 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 21 St. Joseph’s (25-5) to a 82-74 victory over La Salle (12-17) in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. St. Joseph’s, which had lost 91-90 to La Salle in its final regular-season game, advances against Massachusetts (14-14)--a 79-58 winner over St. Bonaventure (18-11) as Monty Mack made all five of his three-point shots and had 29 points.

BIG TEN

Purdue (15-13)--with a career-high 22-point scoring effort from Maynard Lewis and the return of Rodney Smith and John Allison from injuries--posted a 91-77 victory over Minnesota (17-13) in the first round at Chicago. Allison, Purdue’s top rebounder, has been sidelined since breaking his foot Feb. 2. Smith, the team’s leading scorer, broke his foot five days later. The two combined for 17 points. Minnesota’s Kerwin Fleming had a career-high 31 points, two shy of the tournament scoring record. Purdue, which has reached the NCAA tournament eight consecutive years, plays No. 4 Illinois (23-6) today. . . . Gyasi Cline-Heard grabbed a teammate’s air ball and made a reverse layup with three-tenths of a second left to give Penn State (18-10) an 82-80 win over Michigan (10-18). Penn State, looking for its first NCAA tournament bid since Coach Jerry Dunn’s first season in 1995-96, takes on No. 2 Michigan State (24-3) today. . . . Reggie Evans had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Iowa (19-11) in a 72-55 victory over Northwestern, which had beaten the Hawkeyes on Feb. 10 to end a Big Ten regular-season losing streak at 32. Iowa’s next opponent is No. 24 Ohio State (20-9).

BIG 12

Oklahoma State--the sentimental favorite of the tournament at Kansas City, Mo., in the wake of the January plane crash that killed 10 members connected with the basketball program--was a 71-59 winner over Texas Tech. Maurice Baker scored 31 points for Oklahoma State (20-8), which will be the quarterfinal opponent for No. 20 Texas (23-7). Texas Tech finished 9-19, its fourth consecutive losing season under embattled coach James Dickey. Before the game, Dickey refused comment on reports that school officials had talked with former Indiana coach Bobby Knight about coming to Texas Tech. . . . Clarence Gilbert made eight of 12 three-point shots and scored 30 points to lead Missouri (19-11) to a 77-62 victory over Texas A&M; (10-20). Missouri--which plays No. 16 Oklahoma (23-6) today--was 14 for 19 on three-point attempts and 11 for 29 on its other shots. . . . Freshman Matt Sayman made two free throws with 10 seconds left in overtime for the decisive points for Baylor (18-10) in an 86-84 victory over Colorado (15-15). Baylor advances against No. 7 Iowa State (25-4). . . . Travis Reynolds scored on two follow shots in the final 43 seconds to lift Kansas State (11-17) to a 62-58 victory over Nebraska (14-16). No. 9 Kansas (23-5) is the next opponent for Kansas State.

SOUTHEASTERN

Collis Temple III made a three-point shot and two free throws in the final 22.7 seconds as Louisiana State (13-15) severely hurt the NCAA tournament chances of Georgia (16-14) with a 63-62 victory in the first round at Nashville, Tenn. A three-point shot by Georgia’s Rashad Wright bounced off the rim at the buzzer. Louisiana State plays Arkansas (19-9) today. . . . Alabama (21-9)--ranked in the Top 25 before four consecutive losses--advanced against No. 5 Florida (22-5) with a 78-59 victory over Vanderbilt (15-15). It was Alabama’s first non-home court victory since Jan. 6 at Louisiana State. . . . Reserve Ron Slay had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead Tennessee (22-9) to its first SEC tournament victory in three years--73-66 over Auburn (17-13). Tennessee’s next opponent is No. 14 Mississippi (23-6). . . . Mississippi State (16-12) got 0-for-6 shooting and only one point from leading scorer Tang Hamilton in a 69-62 loss to South Carolina (15-13), which advances against No. 15 Kentucky (19-9). Hamilton was averaging 13.1 points.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Conference USA: Regular-season conference champion Cincinnati (22-8) defeated Alabama Birmingham (17-14) for the seventh consecutive time, 73-70, in the quarterfinals at Louisville, Ky. Cincinnati’s next opponent is Memphis (17-13), a 71-64 winner over Marquette (15-14). . . . Diego Guevara accounted for all but one of his points with seven three-point baskets for Charlotte (19-10) in a 77-74 victory over South Florida (18-13). Charlotte advances against Southern Mississippi (22-7), a 63-54 winner over last season’s tournament champion, Saint Louis (17-14).

Mid-American: Miami of Ohio (16-15) defeated the tournament’s top-seeded team for the second year in a row with a 65-56 victory over Central Michigan (20-8) the quarterfinals at Cleveland. Central Michigan’s David Webber, the MAC’s player of the year and brother of NBA star Chris Webber, missed 17 of 20 shots and scored only 10 points--10 below his average. Miami of Ohio advances against Ohio (19-10), a 64-63 winner over Toledo (21-10) as Anthony Jones made a spinning layup with 10.3 seconds left and Patrick Flomo blocked a shot at the buzzer.

Mountain West: Josh Davis had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Wyoming (20-8) in a 73-58 victory over San Diego State (14-14) in the quarterfinals at Las Vegas. Wyoming’s next opponent is Brigham Young (21-8), a 69-54 winner over Air Force (8-21).

Western Athletic: Fresno State (25-5) overcame not scoring a basket for the first 12 1/2 minutes in the second half and a season-low point total in a 60-52 victory over Rice (14-16) in the quarterfinals at Tulsa, Okla. Fresno State’s Melvin Ely, the WAC player of the year, took only three shots and scored a season-low six points--10 below his average. The next opponent for Fresno State is Hawaii (15-13), a 99-79 winner over Texas Christian (20-11) as Predag Savovic made five of seven three-point shots and scored 24 points. . . . Tulsa, which reached the NCAA tournament’s round of eight last season, improved its record to 20-10 with a 64-53 victory over San Jose (14-14). Tulsa advances against Texas El Paso (22-7)--a 74-70 winner over Southern Methodist (18-12) despite getting only 13 points from Brandon Wolfram, 10 below his WAC-leading scoring average.

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NCAA Tournament Qualifiers

Schools that have gained NCAA men’s tournament automatic bids by virtue of conference tournament championships, with exception of the Ivy League and Pacific 10--the only conferences that don’t conduct tournaments.

MEN

School: Conference

Butler: Midwestern Collegiate

Eastern Illinois: Ohio Valley

George Mason: Colonial Athletic Assn.

Georgia State: Trans America Athletic

Gonzaga: West Coast

Indiana State: Missouri Valley

Iona: Metro Atlantic Athletic

Monmouth, N.J.: Northeast

N.C. Greensboro: Southern

Princeton: Ivy

Southern Utah: Mid-Continent

Western Kentucky: Sun Belt

Winthrop: Big South