Mar 10, 2007, 2:40 GMT
New York, NY - Jeff Green scored a career-high 30 points and hit the go-ahead shot in the lane with 13 seconds remaining, as ninth-ranked Georgetown edged No. 20 Notre Dame, 84-82, in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
Green also had 12 rebounds for the Hoyas (25-6), who will face Pittsburgh in the final Saturday night. The Panthers beat Louisville, 65-59, in Friday's other semifinal.
DaJuan Summers contributed 18 points and Patrick Ewing Jr. added 15 for the top-seeded Hoyas, who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the first half to advance to the conference final for the first time since losing to Connecticut in 1996. Georgetown's last tourney championship in the Big East was 1989.
'The performance he put on was special today,' Georgetown coach John Thompson III said of Green. 'Everyone was sticking together when we could have caved on several occasions, from the beginning of the game, midway through the second half. We hung in there together and at the end of the day, great players make plays. Jeff did that.'
Russell Carter scored 21 and pulled down nine rebounds, but missed the potential winning shot in the closing seconds for the Fighting Irish (24-7), who will now await for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Tory Jackson had 20 points for Notre Dame, while Colin Falls scored 14 and Luke Harangody had 11 before fouling out on Green's final bucket.
The Hoyas handed Notre Dame a 66-48 loss on January 6, and although this game was much closer, the Fighting Irish couldn't take advantage of a quick start.
'They got up into it. They've got athletes, they have length,' Falls said. 'We played a lot better than the first time they played against us. We competed and didn't let that bother us, but we couldn't overcome it at the end.'
Jackson's layup tied the game at 82 with 40.5 seconds left, but Green responded with a short shot with his right hand over Harangody in the lane.
'I just put it up there and tried to get it on the rim and it rolled in,' Green said. 'It was a lucky shot.'
Green missed the free throw, but Carter couldn't hit on a three-pointer from the top of the circle. Jonathan Wallace got the rebound near the right corner and threw the ball up into the air to allow time to run out.
The Irish led by as many as 14 in the opening half. Green's layup had the Hoyas within 17-13 just over seven minutes into the game, but Notre Dame responded with a 12-2 spurt, capped by a layup from Luke Zeller.
Carter's three-pointer widened the margin to 35-21, but two free throws by Green capped eight consecutive Hoya points later in the half for a 44-42 Notre Dame edge. The Hoyas trailed, 46-44, at the break.
The game only intensified in the final 20 minutes, as the lead see-sawed down the stretch. Two free throws from Summers extended Georgetown to an 82-79 lead with 1:18 left before Harangody made one from the line to foul out the Hoyas' Roy Hibbert with 57.2 seconds remaining.
Game Notes
Hibbert had just six points, while Wallace scored 10...Carter went 5-of-12 from three-point range...The Hoyas have a 10-0 record when they have been the top seed in the tournament...Georgetown will try for its seventh Big East title, which would be a conference record, breaking a tie with UConn...Green went 12-of-14 from the free throw line...Georgetown shot 52.5 percent from the field, compared to 39.7 for Notre Dame.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
Your Talkback on this Story