Panthers Prevail
February 21, 2004 09:29 PM | General
February 21, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Chevon Troutman and Julius Page scored 15 points each to lead No. 4-ranked Pitt to a 67-58 victory over West Virginia Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's Tyler Relph drives on Pitt's Julius Page in the first half of Saturday's game in Morgantown. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Panthers held West Virginia to just 34.9 percent field goal shooting for the game while improving to 24-2, 10-2. Pitt has won five straight over the Mountaineers since last losing in Morgantown in 2001.
“I think we played as hard as we could play,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “We’re just playing a very good team.”
For a good portion of the first half West Virginia (14-9, 6-6) stuck with the nation’s No. 4-ranked team, leading at one point 25-21 following a short jumper by Tyler Relph with 8:12 remaining in the half.
But Pitt used tight defense and some three-point shooting to take control of the game. With six minutes to go in the first half Page hit a three to give Pitt a 29-28 lead. Another three by Carl Krauser boosted Pitt’s lead to four and a three by Page with 1:54 left gave the Panthers a seven-point advantage.
In the meantime, the Mountaineers went scoreless for almost six minutes until a pair of Joe Herber free throws with 44 seconds left in the half cut Pitt’s lead to six, 36-30. Page’s short jumper gave Pitt an eight-point halftime advantage.
Pitt was able to build its lead to 12 and then to 14 at 49-35 on a three by Page with 13:14 to go.
West Virginia was able to get its deficit back into single digits when Tyler Relph nailed a three-pointer with 9:52 to go to make the score 53-44. Then, a layup by D’or Fischer and a three by Patrick Beilein cut Pitt’s lead to six with 8:05 left.
West Virginia whittled Pitt’s lead to five and then to three on a jumper by Relph before Pitt answered. Krauser nailed a jumper to make it 61-56, and the Panthers were able to build it back to eight with 36 seconds left.
West Virginia’s last opportunity to win the game evaporated when Herber missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:17 to go and WVU trailing by five, 61-56.
Free throws by Jaron Brown and Troutman gave Pitt it’s winning margin of nine.
Krauser scored 13 and freshman Chris Taft scored 10 and grabbed six rebounds despite being in early foul trouble.
Pitt shot 24 of 43 from the floor for 55.8 percent.
West Virginia was led by Tyrone Sally’s 17 points. The junior made 6 of 9 field goal attempts including 2 of 3 from three-point distance. Sally was the only WVU player to reach double figures.
“They really took away any inside scoring that we could get,” said Beilein. “They’re just stronger than us inside. It was like moving a mountain in there when you get one-on-one matchups. It’s something for our big guys to go to school on and learn.”
Fischer and Relph finished with 9 points each. Joe Herber pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a narrow 36-32 rebounding advantage.
But Kevin Pittsnogle (1 of 9), Fischer (4 of 12), Herber (2 of 11) and Patrick Beilein (3 of 11) finished a combined 10 of 43 from the floor for 23.3 percent.
“We didn’t have a great night from the outside and that’s because Pitt’s defense is very, very good,” said Beilein. “If we finished some of those and made a few late foul shots it might have been a last-second type of win or loss.
“The only way we were going to beat them tonight was with the outside shot or the drive and kick type of penetration,” Beilein added. “They’re just very good. They’ve seen it all; they’ve played every great team and Jamie (Dixon) has done a terrific job with them.”
West Virginia returns to the court on Wednesday, Feb. 25 to face a tough Rutgers team in Piscataway. The Knights play at Boston College tomorrow.
Notebook: Tonight's announced crowd of 14,669 was the ninth-largest in Coliseum history ... WVU center D'or Fischer, already the school's single-season shot block leader, needs just six more blocks to reach 100 this season... Fischer ahd three tonight ... after losing by 19 and 36 points by the Panthers last year, West Virginia’s nine-point loss Saturday was a marked improvement … at the first television timeout West Virginia great Jerry West presented West Virginia fans with a pre-recorded message … West, due to a scheduling conflict, couldn’t attend tonight’s festivities along with All-Americans Rod Thorn and Hot Rod Hundley … to the delight of the crowd, former Mountaineer mascot Junior Taylor ran out onto the floor one more time to lead the cheers during a television break … all of the players invited back for Saturday’s game were introduced to the crowd at halftime … among the players returning to campus were Leland Byrd, Bob Carroll, Sam Mandich, Jim McCartney, Fred Schaus and Bob Stakem from the 1940s; Willie Akers, Jim Barnett, George Davis, Jim Hamrick, Jay Jacobs, Clay Kishbaugh, Ronnie Retton, Frank Rodriguez, Pete White and Paul Witting from the 1950s; Bob Hummell, Jim McCormick, Dave Reaser, Jim Ritchie, Bill Ryczaj and Rudy Zatezalo from the 1960s; Warren Baker, Stan Boskovich, Russell Chapman, Bill Hines, Jes Huston, Junius Lewis, Dave McCardle, Lowes Moore, Gary Reichenbecher, Tony Robertson, Maurice Robinson and John Wooten from the 1970s; Herbie Brooks, J.J. Crawl, Dennis Hosey, Greg Jones, Mike King and Lester Rowe from the 1980s; Leon Agnew, Marsalis Basey, Jeremy Bodkin, Mike Boyd, P.G. Greene, Seldon Jefferson, Cyrus Jones, Wilfred Kirkaldy, Chris Leonard, Tim McNeely, Lawrence Pollard, Brent Solheim, Phil Wilson and Jarrod West from the 1990s; and Jason D’Alesio, John Oliver and Josh Yeager from this decade … former Pitt standout center Charles Smith was the color analyst for tonight’s game working for ESPN Regional.
