<p>NEW YORK — Dante Harris made two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to cap a perfect game from the line for Georgetown, and the Hoyas upset No. 14 Villanova 72-71 on Thursday to reach the Big East Tournament semifinals.</p>
<p>The eighth-seeded Hoyas (11-12) will play the winner of St. John’s-Seton Hall on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Georgetown is in the conference semifinals for the first time since 2015.</p>
<p>“We took another step — in my house, by the way. This is my house,” coach Patrick Ewing, the former New York Knicks star, said in a postgame television interview. “It’s a great win. Huge win. We played against the Cadillac, the Bentley, whatever you want to call them, of the Big East — the class of the Big East. And once upon a time that was us. But we took a huge step to be able to knock them off." </p>
<p>Harris led the way with 18 points and drew a foul on on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl driving to the basket with 4.7 seconds left and the Hoyas down one.</p>
<p>Harris rattled in the first and swished the second to make Georgetown 23 of 23 from the line, the first time a team has shot 100% on at least 20 attempts in the Big East Tournament. </p>
<p>With no timeouts left, Caleb Daniels rushed up court and got off a long 3-pointer in traffic for Villanova, but it missed badly. The top-seeded Wildcats (16-6), playing without injured star Collin Gillespie, had won three straight Big East Tournament titles.</p>
<p>Robinson-Earl led the Wildcats with 26 points and Jermaine Samuels added 20.</p>
<p>Qusub Wahab scored 17 points for Georgetown, including a three-point play with 40 seconds left that tied it at 70.</p>
<p>Villanova opened an 11-point lead with 8:50 left in the second half and appeared ready to cruise to a sixth straight appearance in the Big East semifinals.</p>
<p>But the Hoyas went on a 13-1 run and took a 63-62 lead with 5:05 left when Jahvon Blair made a long 3 from up top.</p>
<p>The Wildcats steadied themselves and went up 70-65 with 1:29 left on consecutive 3s by Cole Swider and Robinson-Earl. </p>
<p>Villanova couldn’t hold it and the Hoyas tied it when Wahab was fouled by Swider and made the free throw.</p>
<p>Robinson-Earl made one of two from the line to make it 71-70 with 18.2 seconds left, and Ewing called a timeout to set up a play and put the ball in Harris’ hands.</p>
<p>Last year’s Big East Tournament ended halfway through the noon quarterfinal, when the pandemic brought the college basketball season to a halt.</p>
<p>The quarterfinal day at the Garden is often the best of the Big East Tournament. The marathon quadruple-header keeps MSG buzzing from noon to midnight. Not this year.</p>
<p>With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, the Garden was mostly empty for an old-school Big East matchup between Wildcats and Hoyas. Ewing’s booming voice echoed through the rafters. “Rebound! Rebound!” he shouted after just about every Villanova shot went up.</p>
<p>Each quarterfinal team was given 100 tickets to Thursday’s games. There was maybe a few dozen in the stands for the noon tipoff. A “Let’s Go Nova!” chant didn’t last long or find many takers.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>Georgetown: The Hoyas, who are 7-4 after a COVID-19 pause, won a Big East Tournament game for the first time since 2016 and avoided a three-game sweep by Villanova.</p>
<p>Villanova: Playing its second game without Gillespie (knee), their senior point guard and co-conference player of the year, the Wildcats started Chris Arcidiacono — whose big brother Ryan led the Wildcats to a national title in 2016 — for the first time.</p>
<p>The sophomore contributed three points, five rebounds and four assists. Villanova did have guard Justin Moore (left ankle) available after coach Jay Wright said earlier that it might take a miracle for the team’s third-leading scorer to play in the Big East Tournament.</p>
<p>Moore started the game on the sideline, riding a stationary bike, but ended up scoring 10 points in 27 minutes.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Villanova awaits its NCAA Tournament assignment.</p>
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