Marquette wins, Notre Dame next

Jerel McNeal scored 21 points, and No. 25 Marquette held Seton Hall scoreless over the final five minutes of a 67-54 victory Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (23-8) will play third-seeded and 14th-ranked Notre Dame in the quarterfinals tonight.

Both teams struggled offensively with Marquette shooting 34.4 percent (22-for-64), while Seton Hall shot 33.9 percent (20-for-59). The Pirates' plan worked well for 35 minutes as they were within 57-54 before ending the game by coming up empty on their last 10 possessions. The Golden Eagles closed with a 10-0 run.

Jamar Nutter and Eugene Harvey both had 15 points for Seton Hall (17-15), which lost its fourth straight overall and third this season to Marquette. This was the Pirates' fourth straight first-round loss in the Big East and they have lost five in a row at Madison Square Garden.

Lazar Hayward had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Marquette, while Dominic James added 11 points. The Golden Eagles finished with a 56-37 rebound advantage, including 25-13 on the offensive end. All three of Seton Hall's big men fouled out.

Reserve guard Maurice Acker had 5 points but they all came in the final 5:36. He hit Marquette's only 3-pointer of the second half to give the Golden Eagles a 57-53 lead, and his driving jumper as the shot clock expired made it 62-54 with 2:38 to go.

Marquette, which struggled from the field in the previous two games with Seton Hall, finished 3-for-17 from 3-point range.

Brian Laing, the Pirates' leading scorer with a 19.0 average, finished with 6 points on 3-for-10 shooting. Seton Hall was 4-for-20 from behind the arc.

Big East

Villanova 82, Syracuse 63: Scottie Reynolds scored 22 points, and Villanova (20-11) knocked off Syracuse. Villanova advanced to play No. 9 Georgetown today.

Donte Greene led Syracuse (19-13) with 17 points.

West Va. 58, Providence 53: Joe Alexander scored 22 points to lead West Virginia (23-9) past Providence. The Mountaineers will face 15th-ranked Connecticut today.

Weyinmi Efejuku led Providence (15-16) with 12 points.

Pitt 70, Cincinnati 64: Sam Young scored 21 points, matching Cincinnati guard Deonta Vaughn (30 points) nearly shot for shot, and Pittsburgh (23-9) held on to beat Cincinnati (13-18). Pittsburgh plays Louisville today.

Mid-American

Central Mich. 83, NIU 71: Giordan Watson scored 20 points, and Robbie Harman added 16 to lead Central Michigan past Northern Illinois 83-71 in the opening round of the Mid-American Conference tournament in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Watson hit 5-of-7 3-pointers and Harman made 4-of-6 beyond the arc as the sixth-seeded Chippewas (14-16) hit 12-of-23 3-pointers overall and never trailed.

The Chippewas led by 10 points at halftime and built the lead to 22 before Northern Illinois rallied to cut the lead to 77-68 with 1:05 to play. But Central Michigan made 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute.

Darion Anderson, the conference's freshman of the year, led the 11th-seeded Huskies (6-22) with 22 points.

Marko Spica scored 13 points while Chris Kellerman and Jordan Bitzer added 11 apiece for the Chippewas.

Sean Smith and Shaun Logan scored 12 points apiece for the Huskies.

Central Michigan will play third-seeded Akron today in the quarterfinals.

Big Sky

Portland St. 67, N. Ariz. 51: Deonte Huff scored 17 points to lead Portland State past Northern Arizona in the championship of the Big Sky Conference in Portland, Ore.

Kyle Coston added 14 points for PSU (23-9), which earned its first NCAA Tournament berth.

Nate Geiser led Northern Arizona (21-11) with 13 points.

Northeast

Mount St. Mary's 68, Sacred Heart 55: Jean Cajou and Kelly Beidler each scored 15 points, and Mount St. Mary's earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999 with a win over Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference championship game in Fairfield, Conn.

Women

Texas 76, Baylor 61: Carla Cortijo scored a career-high 24 points, and Texas (21-11) overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 8 Baylor (24-6) in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 women's tournament in Kansas City. Angela Tisdale led Baylor with 23 points.