Big East Basketball Tournament : Villanova Upsets No. 5 Pittsburgh, 72-69; Syracuse Beats Seton Hall

Mark Plansky, Villanova’s last link to its 1985 NCAA championship team, is reviving the memories of that stunning title with last-minute heroics in the Big East tournament.

Plansky, who beat St. John’s Friday night with a three-pointer with 49 seconds left, won another game Saturday. His three-pointer from the top of the key with 58 seconds remaining gave the Wildcats a 72-69 victory over No. 5-ranked Pittsburgh for their third chance at a Big East championship.

“These guys are making their own image at Villanova, but I try to cite some things I experienced in 1985,” said Plansky, who finished with 25 points. “To compare this team to that team can only be a positive thing.”

Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino said: “Certainly this is one of our better wins since 1985 for a lot of reasons. The players were outstanding in their execution and they hung in. Plansky, of course, again deserves all the superlatives.”

The Wildcats (21-11) will play Syracuse today for the Big East title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Plansky was 4 for 8 from three-point range for the game and 3 for 4 in the second half. Jerome Lane scored 20 and Charles Smith had 18 for Pittsburgh (23-6), which had several chances to pull ahead or tie after Plansky’s shot gave Villanova a 70-69 lead. But Lane missed a wild shot with 15 seconds left, and Sean Miller missed a long jumper with 10 seconds to go.

Villanova’s 7-2 center, Tom Greis, made two free throws to make it 72-69, and Smith missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer.

Syracuse 68, Seton Hall 63--Sherman Douglas scored 23 points, including 7 straight in the second half when the 13th-ranked Orangemen (24-8) took the lead for good in the other Big East semifinal.

Syracuse trailed, 46-37, with 12:11 to play before rallying against the Pirates (21-12), who had never reached the Big East semifinals before.

Mark Bryant, Seton Hall’s leading scorer and rebounder, picked up his fourth foul 1:05 into the second half and didn’t return until there was 6:35 left. But the Pirates hung on behind Ramon Ramos, who scored 10 straight points, the last 2 coming on free throws which gave them a 52-47 lead with 9:57 to play.

The Orangemen went on a 6-1 run to tie the game, 53-53, with 7:30 left. Douglas’ seven-point run gave Syracuse a 62-57 lead with 2:28 remaining.

Derrick Coleman scored 14 points for Syracuse, Rony Seikaly added 11 and Stephen Thompson had 10.

Ramos, who averaged 9.6 points per game during the season, finished with 23 for Seton Hall.