Big East Tournament 2017: Quarterfinals Scores, Semifinals Bracket and Schedule

The 2017 Big East Tournament rolled on Thursday with the quarterfinal round from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The top eight seeds were all in action after Xavier and St. John's won their respective first-round games Wednesday.

It's an important stretch for several of the conference's teams. Eamonn Brennan of ESPN projected Villanova, Butler and Creighton as the only NCAA tournament locks from the Big East coming into the event, leaving work for the other squads to solidify or improve their March Madness fate.

Let's check out all of the scores from the quarterfinals, which will get updated through the conclusion of play Thursday night. That's followed by a look at the semifinal slate and a recap of the day's games.

Quarterfinal Results

Game No.	Matchup	Result/Time (ET)
3	(8) St. John's vs. (1) Villanova	108-67 NOVA
4	(5) Seton Hall vs. (4) Marquette	82-76 SH
5	(7) Xavier vs. (2) Butler	62-57 XAV
6	(6) Creighton vs. (3) Providence	70-58 CRE

Semifinal Schedule

Game No.	Matchup	Time (ET)
7	(1) Villanova vs. (5) Seton Hall	6:30 p.m.
8	(7) Xavier vs. (6) Creighton	9:30 p.m.

Villanova 108, St. John's 67

Top-seeded Villanova built a 13-point lead inside the game's first 10 minutes and never looked back en route to a blowout victory over St. John's.

Freshman guard Donte DiVincenzo helped lead the second-ranked team in the nation with a season-high 25 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench. Star forward Kris Jenkins added 24 points, six dimes and three boards as the Wildcats shot 63.2 percent from the field in the lopsided win.

Eric Paschall (17 points), Josh Hart (15), Jalen Brunson (14) and Dylan Painter (10) also reached double figures in scoring for Nova.

Marcus LoVett put together a strong performance for the Red Storm with 12 points and five assists in the losing effort. Bashir Ahmed added 12 points, including a pair of threes, as the team made 40.9 percent of its attempts from downtown. The defense simply wasn't good enough to keep pace, though.

The convincing victory should lock Villanova into a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, if it wasn't in that position already. The key question is whether the Wildcats need the Big East postseason title in order to receive the top overall seed in the big dance.

Seton Hall 82, Marquette 76

Seton Hall took another crucial step toward locking down an NCAA Tournament berth with a clutch 47-point second half to sneak past Marquette into the semifinals.

Five players reached double digits in scoring for the Pirates, which allowed them to pull away late after the sides were locked in a 35-35 halftime tie. Khadeen Carrington led the charge with 19 points on the power of an 11-for-11 day from the free-throw line.

Angel Delgado was the game's top all-around performer with 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in a near triple-double for the winning side. Desi Rodriguez added 11 points and seven boards.

Andrew Rowsey put up 23 points for the Golden Eagles, who will now head into Selection Sunday with hope the committee will still reward their solid regular season despite the early tournament exit. Katin Reinhardt had 12 points and six boards, but the team was out-rebounded 41-30 in the contest.

Ultimately, this felt like an unofficial play-in game for both teams and getting the win should allow Seton Hall to rest a little more comfortably heading into Sunday, regardless of its semifinal result. Another win or two would make the Pirates a lock and rapidly improve their seed, though.

Xavier 62, Butler 57

The Xavier Musketeers earned a monumental win for their NCAA tournament hopes Thursday and knocked out the No. 2 seed Butler Bulldogs behind a clutch closing stretch.

The game was tied with less than 20 seconds remaining, but Trevon Bluiett drilled a mid-range jumper before the Musketeers notched a critical defensive stop. A free throw from J.P. Macura and dunk from Tyrique Jones clinched the 62-57 victory.

Bluiett led the way for Xavier with 23 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Malcolm Bernard added a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. The combined effort helped the Musketeers overcome 17 turnovers and sloppy play throughout the game.

Butler struggled from the perimeter and shot just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from three-point range in the loss. Kelan Martin spearheaded the Bulldogs' effort with 15 points.

Creighton 70, Providence 58

The seedings did not go according to script for the majority of Thursday's action, and Creighton pulled the final upset (at least by seeds) of the quarterfinals with a 70-58 victory over No. 3 Providence.

Khyri Thomas led the way for the Bluejays with 19 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Marcus Foster (15 points) and Cole Huff (10 points and five boards) also scored in double figures and helped the victors overcome a poor shooting performance from the outside (4-of-20 from three-point range).

Providence actually led by three at the half, but Creighton increased the defensive pressure and outscored the Friars by 15 after intermission. Kyron Cartwright spearheaded Providence's effort with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, but he also committed six turnovers against that defense.

The Friars as a whole coughed it up 22 times and shot just 4-of-21 from deep against the Bluejays and never truly threatened down the stretch.