NEW YORK (AP) -- Jay Wright has another uncomfortable night ahead of him, looking forward to Villanova's second-round game in the Big East tournament.

Jim Boeheim can rest a little bit easier, but for all the wrong reasons.

Scottie Reynolds scored 22 points and Villanova rode some hot shooting in the second half to knock off Syracuse 82-63 Wednesday, and dramatically help its cause in what amounted to an NCAA tournament elimination game.

The teams split their regular-season meetings and each came into the conference tournament needing a couple of wins to breath easier on Selection Sunday.

By the time Reynolds curled in consecutive 3-pointers with less than 7 minutes left to extend the lead to double figures, Wright and the Wildcats could exhale ever so slightly.

"I hope it's enough, but I know I have no say in it," Wright said. "We get to play another day. That's all we're interested in, getting to play another day."

Eighth-seeded Villanova advanced to play the top seed, No. 9 Georgetown, in a rematch of a second-round game won last year by the Hoyas. A victory against a team they've never beaten in four conference tournament games would almost surely be enough for the Wildcats.

"We're just going to go out and play the game," Villanova freshman Corey Stokes said. "Me and my teammates have been really looking forward to this game."

Unlike lasn 4 minutes without a basket while the Wildcats pulled away.

Anderson's 3-pointer with 8:35 left seemed to demoralize Syracuse, and a pair of 3s by Reynolds on Villanova's next two possessions made it 61-47 and left Boeheim standing stone still, arms crossed in frustration.

The Wildcats continued to pour it on, the lead increasing to 20 when Arinze Onuaku fouled out with 4:32 left and Cunningham made good on a pair of free throws.

Early on, Syracuse and Villanova looked more like a couple of teams that didn't belong in the Big East tournament, much less the NCAA tournament. The two teams went scoreless for nearly 4 minutes.

Eventually Greene got hot, knocking down three straight 3-pointers as the Orange raced to an 11-point lead that they nursed for most of the first half.

Their sloppy ballhandling finally caught up to them in the closing minutes.

Syracuse was clinging to a 28-19 lead with 1:10 left when Stokes hit a 3-pointer and Clark got ahead of the defense off a turnover _ the Orange's 12th of the half -- for a transition dunk. Moments later, Anderson hit a 3 from the corner as the clock expired to make it 28-27 at the break.

"I thought that was huge," Wright said of the late first-half burst. "I thought that was huge because we couldn't score, we were turning the ball over. ... We looked like we wanted it too bad."
Alexander leads WVU to 58-53 win over Providence

NEW YORK (AP) -- Joe Alexander scored 22 points and West Virginia held Providence to two field goals over the final 7 minutes of a 58-53 victory Wednesday in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

The Mountaineers (23-9) advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals, where they will face fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Connecticut.

Alexander had averaged 31 points over the last three games and he had a hand in West Virginia's last six points against Providence (15-16).

Da'Sean Butler had 17 points for the Mountaineers, including consecutive baskets on offensive rebounds that started West Virginia's game-closing 11-5 run.

Weyinmi Efejuku had 12 points to lead the Friars, who dropped to 1-6 in their last seven Big East tournament games.

Butler's first offensive rebound came with 3:47 left on a missed 3-pointer by Darris Nichols as the shot clock expired and it gave the Mountaineers the lead for good at 49-48.

After a turnover by Providence, Butler grabbed a miss by Alexander and scored with 3:07 left for a three-point lead.

Efejuku scored down low, Providence's first field goal in nearly five minutes, to make it 52-50 with 2:33 to go. But Alexander made four straight free throws and then found Joe Mazzulla with a pass on the break for the basket that made it 58-50 with 8 seconds left. Brian McKenzie hit a 3 with less than 2 seconds to go, making the Friars 2-for-5 with six turnovers in the final 7 minutes.

West Virginia, which entered the game shooting 36 percent from 3-point range, went just 3-for-15 from behind the arc.

The Mountaineers beat the Friars three times this season and they have won eight of their last nine in the series, including going 3-1 in the Big East tournament since 2002.

-SI

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