Panthers Prevail
February 27, 2007 10:00 PM | General
February 27, 2008
BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH – Levance Fields’ 14 points led five Pitt double-figure scorers in an 80-66 runaway victory over West Virginia Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center. The No. 12-rated Panthers (25-5, 12-3) remain in contention for the Big East regular season title are tied with Georgetown with one regular season game remaining on Saturday at Marquette.
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| Pittsburgh's Antonio Graves, center, manages to get a pass around the defensive coverage of West Virginia's Da Sean Butler, left, Jamie Smalligan, right, and Frank Young, top, in the first half of the basketball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic |
Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall scored 12 points each on senior day, while Mike Cook came off the bench to add 12 and Ronald Ramon contributed 10. Gray hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds.
“They’re bigger and stronger than us and with the physical play in the Big East it’s just hard for us to defend sometimes,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
Pitt made 29 of 48 from the field for 60 percent and clobbered West Virginia once again on the glass, out-rebounding WVU 38-21. In a 13-point win in Morgantown earlier this month, Pitt had an identical 38-21 rebounding margin.
“We all know it was a much closer game than this,” Beilein explained. “When we beat them here two years ago (Kevin) Pittsnogle hit five 3s in a row with guys right in his face. We had much easier shots tonight than we did then, but we couldn’t make any of them so we had to do everything else right.”
West Virginia actually led the game at halftime, 32-29, and was giving Pitt problems with its 1-3-1 zone defense. But as it has at times this year, West Virginia simply couldn’t make shots for long stretches and that was the difference in the game.
Things started badly for West Virginia right at the start of the second half when center Rob Summers couldn’t convert a contested lay up, and three straight misses from 3 by Alex Ruoff, Joe Alexander and Frank Young allowed Pitt to go on a 9-0 run.
West Virginia’s first three baskets of the second half came behind the 3-point arc before the Mountaineers went six minutes between baskets: both 3s by Jamie Smalligan and Joe Mazzulla.
By that time Pitt had built a 12-point lead and was well in control of the game.
The first half it was an entirely different story. After Gray made a jump hook to put the Panthers up by five, 21-16, the Mountaineers used a 9-2 run to take a 27-23 lead.
Frank Young got his only two points of the game on a drive to the basket, Nichols hit a tough jumper and was fouled on the play (he missed the free throw), Nichols made another pretty drive to the basket, and Butler took a step back behind the 3-point line and nailed a 3 from the corner with 4:06 remaining to force Pitt to take a 30-second time out. Following the time out, Mazzulla finished the run with a tough drive to the basket.
Two straight 3s by Antonio Graves and Ramon but Pitt back in the lead, 29-27, but Nichols nailed a 3 from the top of the key with 1:03 left and Joe Alexander cleaned things up with a pull-up jumper with seven seconds remaining to give West Virginia a three-point halftime advantage.
“(Pitt) made a lot of shots and I thought they had some great bounces at the basket,” Beilein said. “They had several shots go around the rim and in. We started the game with three open 3s and a lay up and missed all of them.”
As it did in a three-point loss at Providence last Tuesday, West Virginia relied on the 3-ball hitting 11 of 33 for 33 percent. In its last two road losses the Mountaineers have tried 74 3s, making just 20 for 27 percent.
“If we shoot 33 percent from 3 we’ve got to do everything right otherwise,” Beilein said. “Maybe we had 10 different things that are a product of inexperience or just a product of them having a 280-pound, 7-foot center that ends up being the difference in the game.”
With starters Frank Young and Alex Ruoff struggling to find their shooting touch (going a combined 3 of 15 with Ruoff making both of his 3s with less than a minute left in the game), the slack was picked up by Mazzulla and Jamie Smalligan who each had career nights.
Smalligan scored 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting while Mazzulla added 11 on 4 of 6 shooting.
“Joe Mazzulla did a terrific job when he was in there,” Beilein said. “Al got into foul trouble early and if I knew he wasn’t going to make a shot until a minute left in the game I would have played Mazzulla (a lot more). But Al gives us great defense with steals and things like that.”
Point guard Darris Nichols was WVU’s top point-man with 14, although 11 of those came in the first half.
“I feel bad for them and I get frustrated on the sidelines because I know our potential. We’re just missing a little bit here and there,” Beilein said. “It’s a small breakdown.”
Coupled with a 60-47 win over West Virginia in Morgantown on Feb. 7, Pitt sweeps the season series for the fifth time since 1978.
At the end of the game with Pitt holding onto the basket and running out the clock, the Panther students began chanting “NIT” to a West Virginia team that has lost four of its last six games.
Of course West Virginia still has a lot to say about that, having a home game this Saturday against Cincinnati and then moving on to the Big East tournament in New York City.
The Mountaineers wrap up the regular season against the Bearcats in a 4 pm game at the Coliseum Saturday. It is the final home game for WVU seniors Frank Young and Rob Summers.
