Marquette clamps downs Notre Dame to advance to semifinals

#6 Marquette 89 - #3 Notre Dame 79

First, they shackled Big East leading scorer Brain Laing on Wednesday night. Then, the Golden Eagles put the clamps on Big East player and second leading scorer in the Big East, Luke Harangody. Now, Marquette will attempt to go three for three, and lock down Sam Young of Pittsburgh, who happens to be third in the Big East in scoring.

Marquette slowed down Luke Harangody, and cooled off Notre Dame, knocking off the Irish 89-79 in the final game of the Big East quarterfinals on Thursday night. Jerel McNeal had 28 points and six rebounds and Lazar Hayward added 15 points and six boards to help Marquette end Notre Dame’s three game winning streak.

Dominic James and Wesley Matthews each had 10 points, but Marquette’s unsung heroes were Ousmane Barro and reserve Maurice Acker. Barro did a great job on Harangody, who wasn’t able to find many easy looks around the rim. Barro wasn’t intimidated by Harangody, and seem to relish the challenge on defense of playing against the 2008 Big East player of the year. Acker added 11 off the bench, including sinking two huge, difficult 3-pointers that helped Marquette begin to pull away down the stretch.

Kyle McAlarney had 20 points for Notre Dame, who boasted all five starters in double figures. Harangody finished with 13 points before fouling out. Despite their supreme size advantage, the Irish lost the rebounding battle to the Golden Eagles, 35-31. Marquette also won the bench points over Notre Dame, 20-7.

Marquette beat Notre Dame for the second time in three meetings this year, and have won three of their past four games, and eight of ten. Marquette advances to the Big East semifinal round to face Pittsburgh at 9:30 p.m. on Friday night.

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We’re now down to the final four teams in the Big East tournament, and the chalk is gone. Three of the top four seeds lost in the quarterfinals on Thursday, leaving Georgetown as the lone, top four seed left. The Hoyas got things started off right for the higher seeds, beating Villanova 82-63. But then, the fourth, second, and fifth seeded teams all lost in the remaining three quarterfinal games. Fourth seeded UConn was upended by fifth seeded West Virginia, 78-72. No.2 seeded Louisville fell in overtime to the seventh seed Pittsburgh, 76-69, and sixth seeded Marquette bounced fourth seeded Notre Dame, 89-79.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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