NEW YORK, N.Y. – The stage was set for yet another game-clincher by Da’Sean Butler in the Garden. This time, another day in New York City to play for a BIG EAST title was on the line. But this time, he missed.

The young man who has made a name for himself as a clutch shooter could not connect from three with 11 seconds left in a two-point game, leaving Notre Dame with one last chance to stop the Mountaineers from advancing. Tory Jackson’s open look at a three fell short, however, and WVU was able to hang on for a 53-51 win and a date with Georgetown in Saturday’s final.

“At the time I saw [Jackson] shooting the ball, I said, ‘don’t go in,’” Butler said after the game. “Bad shot I had just taken. He came down and put it up. Either you win or you lose on that one. I just prayed he didn’t make it. I boxed out. Thank God he didn’t [make it].”

For the second time in as many chances in the BIG EAST tournament, the no. 3 seed WVU Mountaineers found themselves in a battle until the final seconds, but now they finally are able to focus their attention on a chance to bring home a championship they’ve been fighting all season to obtain.

“It would mean the world to me just because it would be our first one and I was a part of the team,” said Butler. “That’s something that coach has been talking about all year.”

Butler has certainly been an enormous part of West Virginia’s success to get to this point, and on Friday his 24 points left him just four shy of 2,000 for his career. Kevin Jones was the only other Mountaineer player to score in double digits, finishing with 10 points.

Notre Dame’s Ben Hansbrough and Luke Harangody gave the Irish 17 and 10, respectively, and kept the 7 seed in the game late.

“He played well,” said Devin Ebanks of Hansbrough, who he guarded for most of the game. “I kind of bailed him out on a couple of plays, fouling him on cheap fouls, but he shot the ball well tonight, which he usually does every night. But we were on the winning side, so that’s all that matters.

Unlike the Bearcats before them, the Irish had no trouble getting their first field goal to fall as they struck on their first possession with a nice lay up by a cutting Tyrone Nash. After Ebanks made the first two WVU baskets to keep the teams even at four, Nash put Notre Dame back on top with a two as he was fouled on his way to the basket.

It was at this point – before the first media timeout – that both West Virginia seniors, Da’Sean Butler and Wellington Smith, were pulled from the game in favor of Cam Thoroughman and Dalton Pepper. It was Pepper’s first appearance in the tournament, and he stayed on the court long enough to miss a three-pointer before Butler returned to the lineup.

 

Whatever bank Butler opened late Thursday night had apparently left its door ajar for him to deposit his first basket of the semis.

Butler quickly got his shooting stroke going by scoring six of the Mountaineers’ next eight points, all of which came with the 6-7 forward rising straight up over his defender to send home the points necessary for WVU to regain the lead, which they maintained the rest of the half.

The Irish has made a habit lately of taking their time in getting their offense started and typically waited until deep into the shot clock to run a play. West Virginia has made a habit of implementing the 1-3-1 zone defense to keep teams from finding open looks early in their possessions.

“The lineup we had in at that time was a lineup that we play pretty well,” said Huggins. “We play the 1-3-1 pretty well and I thought it was effective.”

Another major contributing factor to West Virginia holding the Irish to just 20 in the first half and 51 for the game was the outstanding defensive effort put in by Joe Mazzulla. Unlike in previous games this season, however, the junior guard also had and impact on the scorecard, finishing with eight points on a few nifty lay-ins, though for the second straight game he missed a three-point attempt.

Its effectiveness in the first 20 minutes led to another low-scoring half for the two teams, who went into the locker room with the Mountaineers holding a slim 23-20 lead.

It was a few tenths of a second from being a tie at the break as Ben Hansbrough launched a one-handed three-pointer at the buzzer that was originally counted good before the officials checked the replay and disallowed it to the delight of the West Virginia supporters in the stands.

No matter, however, as Carleton Scott lobbed in a three of his own to open the second half and bring the game back even at 23.

The Mountaineers pushed back out to a nine-point lead behind some great interior baskets from Kevin Jones and Wellington Smith as well as a few long jumpers from Butler, including two threes. On his second, Truck Bryant got the rebound after his own miss and rifled it to a wide-open Butler who again knocked one down from long range.

As if to average out the good with the bad, the senior then threw away the ball on consecutive possessions, but the Mountaineers were able to hold the Irish and continue to get stops on one ends and score on the other.

The Irish let the lead swell to 10 before they kicked it into a different gear on a run that was sparked by three Harangody free throws and topped with two Hansbrough threes, which narrowed the margin to just three with 3:32 to go in the game.

The win was No. 665 for Huggins, who passes John Wooden on the all-time coaching wins list. Now Huggins and his boys will prepare to try for their second win over Georgetown this year and the first-ever WVU BIG EAST tournament title.