Syracuse wins epic six-overtime game

NEW YORK, March 13 (UPI) -- A 3-pointer by Andy Rautins in the sixth overtime Thursday ignited Syracuse to an epic 127-117 win over Connecticut in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.

The amazing day and night of basketball at Madison Square Garden, which ended at 1:20 a.m., saw the nation's second and fourth-ranked teams knocked out of the tournament.

Not only did the fourth-ranked Huskies fall victim to Syracuse in the late-night marathon, second-ranked Pittsburgh was run over in the second half by West Virginia.

The Mountaineers defeated the Panthers 74-60 and will meet the weary Orange Friday in the second semifinal.

Louisville, the No. 1 seed in this tournament and ranked fifth in the country, reached the semifinals early in the day with a 73-55 win over Providence.

Villanova followed by winning a thriller when Dwayne Anderson made a layup just before the buzzer to defeat Marquette 76-75. That game seemed likely to be the highlight of the day, but it was soon overshadowed by the dramatics to come.

Syracuse appeared to have won its game at the end of regulation when Eric Devendorf launched a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded. The shot was originally called good by the officials, but a look at the replay showed the ball left Devendorf's hand a fraction of a second after the clock reached zero.

The overtime periods then rolled by with Syracuse never leading in any of the first five extra periods. The Orange rallied from a six-point deficit in one of the overtimes.

Rautins, however, made a 3-pointer 12 seconds deep in the sixth overtime and Syracuse scored the first eight points of that session. Eight players fouled out of the game. Syracuse's Jonny Flynn played 67 minutes and scored 33 points.