Title Match Looks Like a Real Thrilla

Of all the guards listed on Friday night’s marquee at Madison Square Garden, Georgetown’s Victor Page would have been the last one you figured would be taking bows in the end.

Page plays on a team that has Allen Iverson, after all, and in a conference that features Kerry Kittles, Ray Allen and Doron Sheffer.

But when Iverson picked up his fourth foul with 13:48 remaining Friday night, Georgetown Coach John Thompson turned to the freshman Page.

And Page turned and shot.

Scoring 11 of his game-high 34 points while Iverson watched, Page kept Georgetown on cruise control en route to an 84-76 victory over Villanova in a Big East Tournament semifinal game before 19,544.

The sixth-ranked Hoyas (26-6) will play No. 3 Connecticut (29-2) tonight for the Big East crown in a battle of conference heavyweights, fitting in that Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the first Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali fight at Madison Square Garden.

Connecticut defeated Syracuse, 85-67, in the other semifinal.

When Iverson took the bench with his fourth foul, Georgetown held a 56-51 lead everyone assumed would soon evaporate.

Thompson wondered.

“I wanted to see what would happen also,” Thompson said.

Villanova Coach Steve Lappas licked his chops.

“Obviously, when he [Iverson] is out of the game, you’d like to think it would be a good time to make a move,” Lappas said. “We weren’t able to.”

In fact, when Iverson returned with 5:39 left, the Hoyas had increased their lead to 13 points at 74-61.

This is bad news for those who thought Georgetown was a one-guard team.

Page averages only 11 points per game, but his 34 points broke the freshman tournament record of 31, set by Iverson last season.

Page averaged 35 points a game at McKinley Tech High in Washington, D.C., but this wasn’t high school.

“Coach told me not to worry about nothing, just go out and play my game,” Page said. “That’s what I did.”

Iverson thanked Page, assumed control of his ship and ran out the clock on Villanova (25-6), which isn’t sure what to make of the loss. The Wildcats won the Big East Tournament last year and then made a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.

“My team asked me a couple of weeks ago whether we should win this,” Lappas said of the Big East. “I said the Big East didn’t mess us up, we messed us up.”

Iverson, who scored 38 points in Thursday’s quarterfinal game, finished with 28 points in only 27 minutes. Iverson and Page accounted for 62 of their team’s total.

Dominating guards were the theme of the night. In a losing cause, Kittles scored 27 for Villanova.

And guard play certainly was the difference for Connecticut (29-2) against Syracuse.

Allen and Sheffer, considered by many to be the best guard tandem in the country, combined for 51 points.

Allen, rebounding from a four-for-17 shooting night against Seton Hall on Thursday, announced his return to stardom, making 11 of 21 attempts.

“It just fell for me tonight,” Allen said. “I was just shooting it like always. I just keep shooting it whether it falls or not.”

When Allen wasn’t shooting, Sheffer was. A senior guard from Israel, Sheffer finished with 22 points and five assists.

Syracuse actually held a 39-37 lead at the half, but withered under Connecticut’s oppressive second-half defensive pressure.

It didn’t help that the Orangemen’s star forward, John Wallace, picked up his third foul late in the first half.

Syracuse is not a team deep with talent, and Wallace’s loss hurt.

He had 11 points when he left, and scored only eight more.

“That third foul hurt,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “It took away some of John’s aggressiveness.”

You figured Syracuse would wilt, the only question was when.

Connecticut pulled away once, at 60-55, but Syracuse wouldn’t fold.

Allen scored eight points in a two-minute span down the stretch that concluded with him falling back into the press table after sinking a three-point shot to put Connecticut up, 76-63, with 5:25 left.

“Clearly, a terrific performance by us,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said.