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PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Pittsburgh certainly sounds like a basketball town. Julius Page scored 17 points as the third-seeded Panthers used a huge second half to roll to a 63-50 victory over No. 6 California in the second round of the South Region. Pittsburgh (29-5) will face upstart Kent State on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky. Buoyed by a vocal hometown crowd at the Mellon Arena, the Panthers used a 14-0 run to take control. A free throw by Brandin Knight capped the run and gave Pittsburgh a 44-32 advantage with nine minutes left. One of the nation's best defensive teams, Pitt held California (23-9) scoreless for more than 11 minutes in the second half. "I thought it was our defense," Pitt coach Ben Howland said. "I think we have really tough kids and they help each other. Our guys love to play defense. Defense equates to winning." The Golden Bears' futility was evident as they were unable to penetrate Pitt's defense and settled for 3-point jumpers. California made just 2-of-14 shots from beyond the arc in the second half. "We depended too much on shots from the perimeter," Bears coach Ben Braun said. "We didn't get to the foul line. We got away from our game plan, we didn't go inside." Knight scored 11 points and handed out seven assists. Freshman Chevon Troutman added 11 and seven rebounds but Pitt's offense was not the key to this one. Defense has always been a staple among teams in the "Steel City." The fans roared their approval at Pitt's, perhaps used to "Steel Curtain" defenses by the Pittsburgh Steelers. "It was beautiful," Page said. "That atmosphere was like a home game for us." The Panthers' offense was stagnant as they shot just 43 percent (23-of-53) and made 12-of-26 at the free-throw line. Page also had seven of the team's 16 turnovers. "We just played great defense," Knight said. "We knew if we kept up our defense that the offense would come." Shantay Legans scored 13 points to lead the Golden Bears, who shot just 31 percent (18-of-58). Cal finished at 4-of-24 from beyond the arc. The shooting numbers were woeful across the board for Cal, which was also outrebounded, 43-39. Legans made 4-of-12 shots while Joe Shipp was 4-of-11. Reserves Amit Tamir, Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Dennis Gates combined to make just 3-of-17 shots. "It was tough out there," Shipp said. "They had excellent help defense and our shots weren't falling." Pitt helped salvage what has been a difficult tournament for the Big East Conference, which received six bids, matching the highest total of any league. The Panthers joined Connecticut in the regional semifinals and upped the Big East's record to 5-4. |
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