Seton Hall 109, Providence 106
Herb Pope had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Seton Hall built a huge second-half lead before barely holding off a furious Providence rally for a 109-106 victory in the first round of the Big East tournament Tuesday night.

In a breakneck game between the league’s two worst defensive teams, the Pirates (19-11) opened a 76-47 advantage with about 13:30 to play.

But the Friars (12-19), led by Jamine Peterson’s 38 points and 16 rebounds, charged nearly all the way back and turned the final minutes into a frantic finish.

Vincent Council’s pull-up jumper cut it to 109-106 with about 8.5 seconds left. And after Jeff Robinson missed two free throws on the other end, Providence — incredibly — had a chance to tie.

Duke Mondy missed a 3-pointer, however, leaving the Friars with 11 straight losses to end the season.

No. 10 seed Seton Hall will play seventh-seeded Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

South Florida 58, DePaul 49

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Dominique Jones had 20 points and nine rebounds, and South Florida beat DePaul 58-49 in the Big East tournament opener Tuesday for its fourth straight victory.

Mike Mercer added 14 points for the ninth-seeded Bulls (20-11), who hope a strong showing this week could propel them into an NCAA tournament field already sure to be flush with Big East regulars.

It was the first Big East tournament victory in two appearances for South Florida since joining the league in 2005-06.

Next up, the Bulls face No. 22 Georgetown in the early game Wednesday. South Florida stunned the then-No. 7 Hoyas 72-64 on the road Feb. 3, a loss that was sandwiched between big wins for Georgetown over Duke and Villanova.

Will Walker scored 20 points to lead DePaul (8-23), which lost its final 13 games.

Cincinnati 69, Rutgers 68
Lance Stephenson celebrated being selected Big East Rookie of the Year by making the deciding free throw with 1.8 seconds to play, leading Cincinnati to a 69-68 opening-round victory over Rutgers on Tuesday night.

Stephenson had 13 points — 10 in a 4-minute span of the second half — nine rebounds and five assists to lead the 11th-seeded Bearcats (17-14) to their first ever victory in the Big East tournament and a second-round matchup against sixth-seeded Louisville on Wednesday.

Mike Rosario had 26 points to lead the Scarlet Knights (15-17).

Rosario tied the game at 68 with a 3-pointer with 15 seconds to play.

Stephenson drove to the hoop and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left. He made the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second, not leaving Rutgers with enough time to get off a good shot.

Cincinnati had lost its previous three games in the tournament.

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