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NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Brandin Knight is continuing to demonstrate why he is co-Player of the Year in the Big East Conference. Knight scored 20 points and matched a Big East tournament record with 14 assists as seventh-ranked Pittsburgh moved into the conference title game for the second straight year with a 76-71 victory over No. 16 Miami. Pittsburgh (27-4) will face Connecticut in Saturday's championship. Knight has had a brilliant performance in the tournament thus far after scoring 13 points in a victory over Boston College on Thursday. He helped spark a 12-2 run in this one with a pair of assists as the Panthers took the lead for good at 66-60 with just under five minutes left. "We feel real happy," Panthers coach Ben Howland said. "You can't say enough about our team's character, falling behind. They never think they're going to lose, and that's how they play the game." Knight fed Julius Page for an alley-oop dunk with 2:22 left for a 74-65 cushion. "I didn't even know he was going to be there," Knight said. "I just threw it up and I was hoping that he was going to catch it." Miami (24-7) did not quit and John Salmons drilled a 3-pointer with 61 seconds left to cut the deficit to 74-71 and the Hurricanes got back the ball. John Salmons drove to the basket but threw the ball past center Elton Tyler out of bounds with 15 seconds left. Page sealed the win with two foul shots five seconds later. "We were running the play and we had some options," Miami coach Perry Clark said. "John could have hit Marcus (Barnes) coming off the baseline. I think he thought he could get E (Tyler) a layup. But the turnover kind of took everything that we were hoping to do away." Page netted 16 points and reserve Ontario Lett added 13 on 6-of-7 shooting for the Panthers, who fell to Boston College in last year's title game. "Whoever it is, we're going to go in and we're going to prepare like we normally do," Knight said. "Everything will stay the same." The game was a closely contested affair that resembled the meeting in the regular season in which Miami posted a 102-96 victory in double overtime. Pitt held a 37-34 lead at halftime behind 58 percent (15-of-26) shooting. Miami charged back and took a 58-54 lead with just over eight minutes left, but Pittsburgh and Knight came up with the decisive spurt. Knight matched the record set by St. John's Mark Jackson and Syracuse's Dwayne "Pearl" Washington. Both players set the mark in 1986. Tyler poured in a career-high 30 points to lead the Hurricanes. But Darius Rice, who netted 18 in a quarterfinal victory over Georgetown, was held scoreless and missed all five shots. "When people try to take away one part of our game away, it creates openings in other parts," Clark said. "I thought we did a good job tonight of taking advantage of that. I thought our problems were on the defensive end." Tyler made 12-of-16 shots and pulled down nine rebounds for Miami, which fell to Pitt in the conference tournament for the second straight season. |
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