Heartbreak for DePaul as 1st trip to Big East semifinals slips away with late collapse at MSG

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NEW YORK (AP) — At long last, downtrodden DePaul was finally about to produce its own indelible moment at the Big East Tournament.

A big upset was in the bag for the Blue Demons — and their first trip to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

And then it slipped through their fingers.

After building a 17-point cushion in the second half against No. 2 seed Creighton, the 10th-seeded Blue Demons blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation and lost 85-81 in a double-overtime thriller Thursday night that nobody saw coming.

For a once-proud program that’s always been a Big East afterthought, it was an excruciating postseason defeat.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” first-year coach Chris Holtmann said. “They played their hearts out.”

Since joining the Big East for the 2005-06 season, DePaul has never been seeded higher than seventh in the conference tournament. After years of early exits, this was only its fourth appearance in the quarterfinals — and the school hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2004 while in in Conference USA.

But after getting outscored by 17 points per game while going 3-29 last season, including 0-20 in the Big East, the Blue Demons (14-19) showed significant improvement with an overhauled roster under Holtmann, who made seven straight NCAA Tournaments during his previous stints at Butler and Ohio State.

“There’s no question that this group has laid a foundation moving forward in a real positive way,” Holtmann said. “Obviously hurts on a night like tonight, but I’m really proud of this group.”

Creighton (23-9) scored the final 11 points of the second half and tied it 62-all when point guard Steven Ashworth took an inbounds pass, turned and nailed a long 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining.

Ashworth, a second-team All-Big East selection, finished 3 for 16 from the field — including 2 of 10 from 3-point range.

Ryan Kalkbrenner blocked Troy D’Amico’s attempt at a winning 3 in the final seconds, Isaiah Rivera missed a…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/heartbreak-depaul-1st-trip-big-035234920.html

Author : MIKE FITZPATRICK

Publish date : 2025-03-14 03:52:00

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