E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Covered by two Vanderbilt defenders, Georgetown's Jeff Green spun and hit a short, off-balance shot with 2.5 seconds remaining to give the Hoyas a 66-65 lead. The only problem is that he traveled by picking up his pivot.

Except there was no call made and the second-seeded Hoyas lived to play another day, while the sixth-seeded Commodores' spectacular ride came to crashing halt.

"I was told not to comment on that one, but that question is left up in the air," said senior Derrick Byars, who scored 17 points in his final game in a Vanderbilt uniform.

Vanderbilt has excelled down the stretch all season long and when senior Dan Cage calmly knocked down two free throws with 17.9 seconds remaining, it looked like it was headed to its first Elite Eight since 1965.

"Four minutes, if the game's within five points either way, our team kind of looks at each other and basically you can call it arrogance but we think we got the game won," Cage said. "So this feeling right now is a little bit foreign to us. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little shocked. I'm surprised right now more than upset. It's just unfortunate."

Perhaps the same could be said about the no-call on Green's game-winning play, but Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings had no desire to discredit the Big East Player of the Year.

"I'm certainly not going to take away from the dignity of this game," he said. "I haven't seen the replay. Don't care to. He made a great shot. The officials didn't see anything, so there must not have been anything."

While the post-game talk has been consumed with the final 2.5 seconds, the first 39-plus minutes didn't disappoint either. Vanderbilt led 32-24 at halftime before Georgetown tied the game early in second. It went back and forth the rest of the way.

For Byars, Cage and classmate Ted Skuchas, Friday's East Regional semi-final provided a bittersweet end to their careers.

"I'm going to miss them greatly, and I've never been prouder of a group of seniors than I am those three guys," Stallings said.