Posts Tagged ‘Joe Mazzula’
West Virginia, The New Beasts Of The East
In a tournament full of upsets, games decided by 3 points or fewer, and late game heroics, this was the perfect ending to what has been a Big East tournament to remember. It started off with the third-seeded Mountaineers being the one out of the top four-seeded teams to surpass the quarterfinals. West Virginia was able to win its first Big East Tournament Championship in school history and their first Conference Tournament Championship since the Mountaineers played in the A-10 in 1984. West Virginia was able to achieve this goal that was set prior to the season.
The Mountaineers captured their first ever Title by defeating the Georgetown Hoyas with a score of 60-58, their highest point total in the tournament. West Virginia was fortunate enough for Georgetown Guard Chris Wright to foul Joe Mazzulla after the offensive rebound from Butler’s missed 3-point attempt with a mere 27 seconds left on the game clock. The game was tied when the surprising foul occurred and to what was later said by Wright a “mistake” as he stated that he did not look up at the scoreboard. Mazzulla knocked both free throws down to break the tie but did not stay that way for long. Chris Wright was able to create a little daylight between Mazzulla and himself on a spin move, leading to a game-tying layup with 17 seconds left. After a little chaos, West Virginia called a timeout at midcourt with 9 seconds left, which is when the magic started to happen once again.
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