(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.