Notre Dame beats Marquette to reach Big East semis

(AP) Notre Dame beats Marquette to reach Big East semis
By JIM O’CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK
Pat Connaughton scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Jack Cooley had two big offensive rebounds in Notre Dame’s game-changing run as the 24th-ranked Fighting Irish beat No. 12 Marquette 73-65 on Thursday night to reach the Big East tournament semifinals for the fourth straight year.

Unfortunately for the Irish (25-8) the road has ended there each time, the last two at the hands of Louisville, who they will face in Friday night’s semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

The second-seeded and fourth-ranked Cardinals, the tournament’s defending champions, advanced with a 74-55 win over Villanova.

Jamil Wilson had 16 points and Junior Cadougan added 14 for the third-seeded Golden Eagles (23-8), who shared the regular season title with Louisville and top-seeded Georgetown.