Video: Butler’s Runner Helps West Virginia Win Big East Battle With Perspiration

It’s utterly unsurprising that words like grit and heart and tenacity will be thrown around when talking about tonight’s Big East Tournament final. How else could people adequately describe the battle Georgetown and West Virginia fought? Players were throwing their bodies around throughout the game, rising to the requirements of their magical stage.

And Da’Sean Butler’s version of playing hard was a little better than anyone else’s.

Butler’s acrobatic runner -- thrown up over one Hoya with another on his tail -- gave West Virginia a 60-58 win and the in-road to a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

It was a fitting capper to a great night for hustle and hoops in Madison Square Garden. Georgetown’s Chris Wright scrambled for a loose ball and made up for an inexplicable foul with a game-tying drive, Hoya big man Greg Monroe ran the break, and Austin Freeman bulled into the lane again and again. WVU just did a bit more, with Butler and Wellington Smith pulling down five and seven offensive boards, respectively, as the Mountaineers outrebounded Georgetown in total (18) on the offensive glass alone (20).

Butler doing what he does was just the sweet finale to a game that was won with gallons of sweat.

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