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Another last-second shot leads Mountaineers to first Big East Championship

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

NEW YORK — Da'Sean Butler sat on the elevated podium in the depths of Madison Square Garden, 40 minutes after he produced his second miracle for West Virginia in two days, championship hat spun around backwards, his eyes beating around the vast open room. A reporter asked him to describe his second-game winning shot of the Big East Tournament, the one that had won the first conference tournament for the Mountaineers.

Butler ran through the play from start to finish, from catch to release. Then sheepishly, incredulously, his voiced hushed and trailing off — like an inner monologue that accidently escaped the inner sanctum of his mind — he spoke one more word so low that the microphone could not pick it up.

"Magic," he said, giving away the final part of his act.

Surely, no Mountaineer fan could be blamed if they thought the three-game stretch they just witnessed had a little something extra to it than just Butler's brilliance and West Virginia's resolve. But to the naked eye, the Mountaineers' championship after a 60-58 victory over Georgetown was their doing and theirs alone.

BOXSCORE: West Virginia 60, Georgetown 58

With the game tied at 58 after almost 40 minutes of intense, strong-willed back and forth play, West Virginia was in a familiar position. Just two nights ago, tied against Cincinnati, they were given 3.1 seconds to run a play to win the game. Now, with nine seconds remaining and the ball once again being inbounded just past their bench in front of the scorer's table, they faced an almost carbon copy situation.

So Bob Huggins called the same play, in fact he never had to as Butler knew exactly before he even came into the huddle. Everyone in the building knew where the ball was going.

Once again, the unguarded inbounder pass threw it in to Butler, who caught it almost at the same place on the right wing. Guarded closely by Greg Monroe, who hesitated just long enough for Butler to turn the corner and get into the lane, Butler took a hop step as he fumbled the ball and then willed up an off-balance one-handed runner that hit the backboard, back rim and then fell through. The remaining 4.2 seconds were long enough for Chris Wright to go the length of the court but miss an up-and-under layup that never had a chance to prevent the Mountaineer faithful of serenading the night with John Denver's "Country Roads."

"I knew we were going to run the play," said Butler. "Alright I know exactly what we are doing. It was just a matter of me getting the ball. I think that was pretty much the hardest part, just getting the ball, because they knew what was coming."

West Virginia came here looking for two things: respect and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Last night, they earned the former and did everything they could to lock up the latter, leaving only the indeterminable whims of the NCAA powers as their latest antagonist.

The Mountaineers knew they could achieve both goals unitarily by taking the Big East Tournament. A win would give them respect and hopefully begat the coveted seeding.

"It definitely was," replied Kevin Jones when asked if that was their intention. "First off was just winning it for ourselves. Respect comes with it."

At different points in the season Syracuse, Georgetown and Villanova were crowned as the best of the Big East. Quietly, West Virginia went about their business, never falling out of the top-10, never losing more than a game at a time.

The Hoyas hit their wall in February, losing four out of five games in a forgettable stretch. The Wildcats lost the ability to defend and finished the regular season by winning just two of their final six games. The Orange, after a dominating start, came back down to the league in losing their last two games.

The Mountaineers just bided their time till glory.

"I know how well we play but people overlook us anyway," said Butler. "That's something I've been used to since I got here. Them picking us to finish last in the conference and we end up finishing fourth or fifth. People overlooking us I didn't really care about but when we get to this point and people say that if we win then the Big East conference isn't as good as it's supposed to be or all the teams are better than us, I take that as disrespect. But we take care of it on the court."

Their triumph came at the hands of Georgetown, who had rocked the Garden from Wednesday till Friday with the first three acts of their Redemption Tour.

In defeating South Florida, Syracuse and Marquette in succession they avenged earlier losses. They had played so well that they received the Presidential Seal of Approval from Bill Clinton, who witnessed his alma mater play so well in the second half victory over the Orange that he felt they could beat anyone in the country.

West Virginia, who defeated the Hoyas only 13 days ago, was to be their final victim.

The game was one of respective runs. Georgetown jumped out to a quick lead but Butler led the Mountaineers back to take a four-point halftime lead.

The lead grew to as large as nine, 50-41 with 7:30 remaining. Two Monroe free throws started a comeback that let the Hoyas tie the game at 56 with 51 seconds to go.

The pendulum swung back to West Virginia when Chris Wright errantly fouled Joe Mazzulla with 27 seconds remaining.

"I made a mistake," he said.

Mazzulla hit both but Wright redeemed himself with a drive and spin in the lane that led to a layup to tie the score at 58. After Butler almost lost the ball going up the court but Mazzulla retained it and coach Bob Huggins called the timeout that led to Butler's heroics.

To even get to that point, West Virginia had to shut down the Hoyas's prolific offense and in essence its catalyst Monroe. Georgetown averaged 80 points per game in its first three, putting up a mighty 91 at the expense of Syracuse in the quarterfinal round, with Monroe wielding a heavy influence. In its previous round flogging of Marquette Monroe was three assists off a triple-double, pairing with his 23 points and 13 rebounds.

"Just do whatever you can to not let him get the ball," said Summit, New Jersey's Wellington Smith of the gameplan for the dynamic center. "There were a lot of ticky-tack fouls on him but we just tried to not let him catch the ball or get good position. He's the engine that moves their team."

Though Smith gave up four inches to the 6-foot-11 Monroe, he was the main cog in keeping him to just 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting, six rebounds and three assists. In turn the Hoyas shot just 42.6 percent as part of their worst offensive output in more than six weeks.

"A lot easier said than done," said Smith, who finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, six of them offensive.

As one star floundered, another relished a second chance for the spectacular.

The night before Butler had texted Ohio State's Evan Turner, congratulating him on his own game-winning shot-a 37-foot buzzer beating three to elevate the Buckeyes over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament.

"Good shot, win it all and I'll match it," the text read.

After Butler's shot against the Hoyas went in, he said he thought about his earlier proclamation. His boasting, while prophetic, was facetious. He didn't think it would actually come true.

The game-winner late Saturday night wrapped up what has been a magnificent week for Butler. His 20 points and six rebounds were just part of the reason why he won the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award, capping off a stretch where he averaged a shade under 20-ppg and 6.3 rebounds. Let alone, his two highlight which will be played endlessly for years to come as capstones of past Big East tournament glories and on rotation for the remaining month of his collegiate career.