By The Associated Press

NEW YORK – West Virginia made sure Boston College’s last appearance in the Big East tournament was brief.

Mike Gansey scored 21 points and West Virginia hung on to upset No. 7 Boston College 78-72 in the quarterfinals Thursday, ruining the Eagles’ bid for a final conference championship.

“It’s a great feeling to come in here, play against a good team and prove that we’re a good team,” Mountaineers center Kevin Pittsnogle said. “We’re having a lot of fun.”

Pittsnogle added 17 points for the Mountaineers (20-9), who very likely wrapped up at least an NCAA tournament at-large bid by impressing the selection committee with the surprising win over the Big East’s top seed.

Making the win even more impressive was the fact that the Mountaineers did it without top scorer Tyrone Sally, who missed the game with a stomach ailment.

Craig Smith scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Boston College (24-4), which leaves the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference after this season.

“They came out and were aggressive,” Smith said. “When you’re top dog, people are going to come for you. You know, this is a wakeup call for us. We still have a chance to do something special.”

Villanova 67, Pittsburgh 58

NEW YORK – Randy Foye scored 23 points and No. 19 Villanova won its eighth straight game, beating No. 22 Pittsburgh 67-58 in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Pittsburgh (20-8) entered the game as the second-best shooting team in the conference at 47.8 percent. The Panthers shot a season-worst 35 percent (20-for-57) against Villanova, going 5-for-25 in the first half.

UConn 66, Georgetown 62

NEW YORK – Connecticut, despite making just one field goal over the final 5 minutes, hung on to beat Georgetown 66-62 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Connecticut has been in the last three championship games, winning the title in 2002 and 2004, and has reached the semifinals in seven of the last eight years. The Huskies had to sweat this one out as they won their seventh straight and 10th of 11.

Syracuse 81, Rutgers 57

NEW YORK – Gerry McNamara scored 25 points and Hakeem Warrick added 23 to lead Syracuse to an 81-57 victory over Rutgers on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

The third-seeded and 16th-ranked Orange (25-6) will play second-seeded and 12th-ranked Connecticut in the semifinals on Friday.

Warrick, the conference’s player of the year, grabbed 13 rebounds as Syracuse, which was last in the semifinals in 2003 when it went on to win the national championship, had a 43-32 advantage on the boards.

Saint Joseph’s 63, Richmond 51

CINCINNATI – Junior Dave Mallon scored a career-high 17 points as Saint Joseph’s beat Richmond 63-51 on Thursday and advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Conference co-player of the year Pat Carroll added 16 points for the Hawks (18-10), who have the tournament’s top seed and have won seven of their last eight games.

Andres Sandoval and Jermaine Bucknor each scored 11 points to lead the Spiders (14-15), who had the third-worst record in the tournament field.

George Washington 79, Fordham 63

CINCINNATI – Pops Mensah-Bonsu scored 21 points and Mike Hall added 18 on Thursday night, steadying George Washington to a 79-63 victory over Fordham that put the Colonials in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals.

With Mensah-Bonsu scoring inside and Hall hitting from the perimeter, the Colonials broke open a close game in the second half.

George Washington (20-7) became the first Atlantic 10 team with 20 victories this season. The tournament most likely will produce the conference’s only representative in the NCAA tournament.

Temple 61, Dayton 51

CINCINNATI – Temple continued its surge during coach John Chaney’s suspension, using its intimidating defense to beat Dayton 61-51 Thursday and advance to the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals.

The Owls have gone 3-1 without Chaney, who was suspended after he ordered Nehemiah Ingram – a reserve he called “a goon” – to get rough in a Feb. 22 game against Saint Joseph’s. Ingram had a vicious foul on Saint Joseph’s senior forward John Bryant that broke his arm.

Xavier 83, La Salle 70

CINCINNATI – Stanley Burrell and Justin Cage led Xavier’s balanced attack with 16 points apiece Thursday, helping the Musketeers roll to an 83-70 victory over La Salle that sent them into the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Xavier (17-11) got a good start on its attempt to use the tournament as a springboard. The Musketeers won it last year, knocking off unbeaten Saint Joseph’s along the way, and made it to the final eight in the NCAA tournament.

La Salle (10-19) had Steven Smith, the conference’s leading scorer and co-player of the year, back from an eye injury suffered the previous day in a first-round game. He went only 6-of-20 from the field, not nearly enough to help the Explorers pull off another upset.

Louisville 85, TCU 61

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Larry O’Bannon scored 18 points to lead five Louisville players in double figures, and the sixth-ranked Cardinals beat TCU 85-61 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament.

The top-seeded Cardinals (27-4) never trailed in winning their seventh straight game and 16th in their last 17.

Memphis 83, Charlotte 69

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rodney Carney scored 20 points, and Memphis continued its run through the Conference USA tournament with a 83-69 victory over No. 25 Charlotte.

Memphis (18-14), the tournament’s No. 7 seed, won for the second straight night after a season-ending four-game skid. St. Louis, Memphis’ first victim in the tournament was one of the losses during that stretch, and Charlotte was another.

S. Florida 80, Cincinnati 68

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Terrence Leather scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, and South Florida upset No. 21 Cincinnati 80-68 Thursday night in the Conference USA tournament semifinals.

The 11th-seeded Bulls (14-15) now have won three straight and reached the tournament semifinals for the first time in their last season as a member. The Bulls will be playing in the Big East next season along with Cincinnati.

Arizona 88, California 63

LOS ANGELES – Channing Frye scored 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and No. 8 Arizona routed California 88-63 Thursday in the opening game of the Pac-10 tournament.

Frye was perfect until missing a 15-footer with 13:05 remaining in the game. He sat down for good moments later, only because the Wildcats led by 28 points.

Their comfortable lead allowed coach Lute Olson to give his starters a lengthy rest in the second half, when the Wildcats’ lead ballooned to 30 points.

The eighth-seeded Golden Bears (13-16) ended the season with seven losses in their final eight games. Cal has lost in the tournament’s first round five times, including last year.

Arizona, the regular season Pac-10 champions, are seeded No. 1 in the tournament for the second time in three seasons.

The Wildcats improved to 14-3 in the tournament, which they’ve won four times – both are conference bests.

Jawann McClellan added 14 points off the bench for the Wildcats. Mustafa Shakur and Hassan Adams had 10 points each. Salim Stoudamire, who joined Frye on the All-Pac-10 team, was held to seven points.

Dominic McGuire led the Bears with 13 points and Richard Midgley added 10.

Arizona controlled the boards, 39-27, and shot 58 percent from the field.

The Wildcats dominated the first half, opening the game with a 10-0 run in which all five starters scored. They shot 57 percent in the half.

Midgley scored six of Cal’s first 12 points to get the Bears within four points.

The Bears cut Arizona’s lead to six points before the Wildcats ran off nine straight points, including four by Frye, to take a 32-17 lead. Stoudamire scored four of his seven points in the final 1:57 for the Wildcats.

Shakur hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1 second left to keep Arizona comfortably in front at the break.