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St. John’s D.J. Kennedy (1) leaps for a loose ball as Rutgers’ Dane Miller and St. John’s Sean Evans, left, look on during the first half of an NCAA basketball game Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
AP PHOTO
NEW YORK — Madison Square Garden has been a special court for St. John’s in its return to national prominence.
The latest win there for the Red Storm — 65-63 over Rutgers in the second round of the Big East tournament on Wednesday — was achieving legendary status within minutes of the game ending.
It wasn’t great plays by St. John’s that will make this a memorable game. Rather it was two turnovers that weren’t called and this wasn’t just the losing team complaining about a tough loss.
Big East commissioner John Marinatto issued a statement about 40 minutes after the game ended admitting there were two errors made by the veteran officiating crew.
A wild last minute that had two lead changes, two turnovers that were called, the two that weren’t and two missed free throws finished with Justin Brownlee of St. John’s taking a couple of extra steps, stepping out of bounds and throwing the ball into the stands while the final 1.7 seconds ticked off the clock.
“The Big East Conference acknowledges that two separate officiating errors occurred at the conclusion of the St. John’s vs. Rutgers game,” he said, referring to the travel and stepping out of bounds. “Both missed violations should have caused the game clock to stop and a change of possession to occur prior to the end of the game. Neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA rules.”
The result will stand. The 17th-ranked and fifth-seeded Red Storm (21-10) advanced to the tournament quarterfinals for the 20th time overall and first since 2003.
Under first-year coach Steve Lavin, the Red Storm closed the regular season winning nine of 11 and all but one of the six wins against ranked teams came at the Garden. The lone loss was 79-56 to Syracuse on Jan. 12.
Connecticut 79, Georgetown 62.
NEW YORK — Kemba Walker scored 28 points in another stellar performance, and No. 21 Connecticut remained alive in the Big East tournament with an easy second-round victory over No. 22 Georgetown.
Despite being the higher-ranked team, the Huskies (23-9) had fallen all the way to the ninth seed in the conference tournament and were forced to beat DePaul in the opening round just to face the eighth-seeded Hoyas. UConn now gets top-seeded Pittsburgh in the quarterfinals.
Georgetown (21-10) still has not won since losing guard Chris Wright to a broken left hand.
The senior spent the afternoon on the end of the bench dressed in a suit with a brace around the injury. Coach John Thompson III has said Wright could return for the NCAA tournament, especially if the Hoyas manage to make it through the opening week.
That sure seems like a long shot the way they’ve been playing lately.
Cincinnati 87, South Florida 61
NEW YORK — Yancy Gates was nearly perfect from the field, scoring a career-high 25 points and leading 25th-ranked Cincinnati to a rout of upstart South Florida in the Big East tournament.
Gates was 10 of 11 from the field for the seventh-seeded Bearcats, who will play top-seeded Pitt in the quarterfinals Thursday night. His only miss came with 8:35 left in the game.
Dion Dixon added 21 points and Sean Kilpatrick had 12 for Cincinnati (25-7), which has won six of its last seven, matching the school’s biggest win total since the 2004-05 season.
That was the last time Bob Huggins was roaming the sidelines, and also the last time the Bearcats made the NCAA tournament.
Augustus Gilchrist scored 16 points and Shaun Noriega had 12 for No. 15 seed South Florida (10-23).
Marquette 67, West Virginia 61
NEW YORK — Darius Johnson-Odom scored 11 points, including two big 3-pointers in the final minutes, and Marquette beat No. 20 West Virginia in the second round of the Big East tournament.
The 11th-seeded Golden Eagles (20-13) advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will face third-seeded and 14th-ranked Louisville (23-8) on Thursday night.
Marquette came into the conference tournament considered the last of the 11 Big East teams that could get a bid into the NCAA tournament’s field of 68. It seems the wins over Providence and West Virginia seem to have made that an almost certainty.
Kevin Jones had 15 points for the Mountaineers (20-11), the defending tournament champions who went on to the Final Four.
West Virginia was 7 of 11 from 3-point range in taking a 36-29 halftime lead, but the Mountaineers were just 3 of 11 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Northern Colorado 65, Montana 60
GREELEY, Colo. — Devon Beitzel scored 13 of his 27 points over the final 5 minutes, helping top-seeded Northern Colorado earn a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 65-60 win over Montana.
The Bears (21-10) have only been postseason-eligible since 2007 after moving up from the Division II ranks.
Oklahoma 84, Baylor 67
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cade Davis scored 24 points and Oklahoma hit nine 3-pointers en route to a victory over short-handed Baylor in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
A few hours before tipoff, Baylor’s standout freshman, Perry Jones, was declared ineligible by the NCAA. The issue is whether he or his family received preferential treatment or improper benefits before he enrolled.
Long Island U. 85, Robert Morris 82
NEW YORK — Jamal Olasewere scored seven of his 31 points in overtime and Long Island University earned its first NCAA tournament bid in 14 years with a overtime victory over two-time defending champion Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference title game.
Marshall 97, Houston 87
EL PASO, Texas — Damier Pitts scored 28 points and DeAndre Kane added 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Marshall to a victory against Houston in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.
The sixth-seeded Thundering Herd (22-10) advance to a quarterfinal contest against No. 3 seed UTEP on Thursday.
Zamal Nixon had 21 points and Maurice McNeil added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the 11th-seeded Cougars (12-18).
WOMEN Texas A&M 77, Texas 50
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Danielle Adams scored 23 points, and Sydney Colson and Tyra White each added 14 as No. 8 Texas A&M cruised past turnover-prone Texas to advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.
Texas committed 31 turnovers, one shy of the tournament record, and was held to its lowest points total of the season.
The Aggies (27-4), the tournament’s No. 2 seed, will play either Texas Tech or Oklahoma on Friday. Texas A&M defeated its rival for the third time this season, and the tournament win was the most convincing of the three.
Chelsea Bass came off the bench to lead Texas (19-13) with 11 points.
Baylor 86, Kansas 51
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Destiny Williams scored a career-high 21 points and Brittney Griner added 19 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to lead third-ranked Baylor to a victory over Kansas, sending the Lady Bears on to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Top-seed Baylor (29-2) had a dominant first half, building a 43-19 lead at the break. The Lady Bears will meet the winner of the Kansas State-Iowa State game.
The Jayhawks (20-12) were led by Monica Engleman, who had 16 points, including four 3-pointers.
Baylor guard Melissa Jones, playing with sunglasses to protect a recent eye injury, had eight points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Wisconsin-Green Bay 89, Loyola of Chicago 41
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Celeste Hoewisch scored 19 of her 23 points in the first half as No. 13 Wisconsin-Green Bay routed Loyola of Chicago in a Horizon League quarterfinal.
Green Bay (30-1) won its 21st straight and improved to 15-0 at home this season, and this one wasn’t ever in doubt. The Phoenix jumped out to leads of 11-0 and 23-2 to turn it into a laugher.
Sarah Eichler scored 15 points, one shy of a season high, while Julie Wojta added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Lydia Bauer scored 11 off the bench.
Gabby Micek scored eight points to lead Loyola (12-19).
Green Bay, the Horizon’s top seed and undefeated regular-season champ, will host No. 4 seed Wright State in a semifinal game Friday night.