The Big East Tournament has already had plenty of exciting games. The quarterfinal matchup between the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Cincinnati Bearcats was not one of them.
The Irish would dominate the second half and defeat the Bearcats 89-51.
Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough had 23 points and seven assists. Carleton Scott had 18 points and seven rebounds and Tim Abromaitis added 17 points. Dion Dixon had 15 points for the Bearcats, while Yancy Gates had 12.
Notre Dame held a 40-30 halftime lead and pulled away early in the second half, outscoring Cincinnati 18-9 in the first five minutes and 49-21 for the half.
Cincinnati may have been the more athletic team, but Notre Dame used its strong field goal shooting to counteract that. The Fighting Irish shot 9-19 from three-point range and 56.1 percent from the field. Notre Dame would also hit twice as many free throws (16 to 8).