Georgetown, UConn advance in Big East

Henry Sims and Otto Porter each scored 20 points Wednesday in leading 14th-ranked Georgetown to a 64-52 Big East Tournament win over Pittsburgh. The win advanced the Hoyas (23-7) into the tournament quarterfinals against the fourth-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats. Pittsburgh fell to 17-16 on the season. Connecticut, Louisville and South Florida also advanced to the quarterfinals. Connecticut, trying to win five Big East Tournament games in five days for the second year in a row, got past West Virginia in overtime 71-67 and will meet No. 2 Syracuse Thursday. Louisville was a 61-55 winner over Seton Hall to set up a game against Marquette and South Florida ousted Villanova 56-47 to create a quarterfinal date with Notre Dame. Pittsburgh led through the early stages of the game and was ahead 21-15 with 6:40 to go in the first half before Georgetown closed the period with a 16-2 run. Porter started the run for a free throw and Sims capped it with a layup with 1:17 to go. Greg Whittington had a 3-point shot and a 3-point play in the spurt in which six Hoyas got on the board. Louisville (23-9) held off a Seton Hall comeback thanks to Peyton Siva's 14 points. Seton Hall (20-12) shot only 32 percent from the field and made 3-of-19 from 3-point range. South Florida got 17 points from Anthony Collins while improving to 20-12. The Bulls jumped to a 14-2 lead and never trailed. Villanova (13-19) was led by Mouphtaou Yarou with 20 points. Sims, who also had 13 rebounds, and Porter combined for 14-of-21 shooting and Whittington wound up with 11 points for Georgetown. Ashton Gibbs had a team-high 14 points for Pittsburgh. Connecticut (19-12) rallied from 11 points down in the second half against West Virginia (19-12). Shabazz Napier paced Connecticut with 26 points and Jeremy Lamb added 22. Kevin Jones led West Virginia with 25 points and Daryl Bryant had 20. It was the final Big East Tournament appearance for West Virginia, which joins the Big 12 next season.