Big East 2022 Kicked off at MSG

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

For the first time in two years due to the Pandemic, the Big East Tournament kicked off at Madison Square Garden in front of a full crowd. The new city mandate did not require fans to wear mask and the enthusiasm among the nearly sold out crowd was at its typical fever pitch for the 40^th anniversary of the tournament at MSG.

 

Three games were played in the opening round. Based on their regular season record #8 see Xavier (18-12 ) took on #9 seed Butler (13-18) . #7 St. John’s (16-14), representing New York, took on #10 DePaul (15-15) with the night ending when #6 Seton Hall (20-9) taking on #11 Georgetown (6-24). The Pirates and Hoyas played last Wednesday at the Prudential Center with the Hall coming away with 78-73 win. Georgetown(6-24) coached by ex-Knicks center and Georgetown Alma Mater Patrick Ewing had not won a conference game all year with many speculating this may be his last year. The Hoyas entered the tournament as the Big East defending champions. A strong showing the next 4 days could save his job.

 

Xavier took an early 8-3 lead as both teams struggled from the floor to start the game. Butler then went on a 11-6 run taking their first lead 14-12. Tied at 18, the Xavier scored the next 6 points to go up 24-18. Butler ended the half on 8-2 run as the game was tied at 26. Xavier finished the half shooting 37.5% with Butler shooting only 30%. The Bulldogs Chuck Harris scored 10 points while the Musketeers Jack Nunge scored 8.

 

 

 

 

The second half offense picked up for both teams as Nunge was fouled scoring a lay-up but failed to convert the free throw giving Xavier a 1-point lead 39-38. From that point both teams matched points scoring 18 with Xavier taking a 1-point lead 57-56 with 3:40 when a flagrant foul was called on Butler’s Simas Lukosius sending Xavier’s Colby Jones to the line. Jones converted 1 of 2 giving them a 4-point lead 60-56.

 

After 2 Butler free throws cut the lead 2 (66-64) Xavier attempted to inbound the ball under their own basket but were called for an offensive foul giving the ball back to the Bulldogs. Chuck Harris drives to the basket converting the lay-up to tie the score. Xavier responded with a Paul Scruggs lay-up putting them up by 2 (68-66) with .5 seconds left. Inexplicably, Scruggs fouls Lukosius, sending him to the free throw line where he converts both sending the game into overtime.

 

Lukosius took over in overtime scoring 12 of the team’s 21 points in the 89-82 victory. The Bulldogs will face the #1 seed Providence Friars at noon today.

 

For the Xavier Mountaineers, when they look back at this loss, they will kick themselves for foolish fouls down the stretch and missing a whopping 16 free throws.