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A real Page-turner Pitt guard's second-half heroics lift Panthers over UConnPosted: Sunday March 02, 2003 7:03 PMUpdated: Sunday March 02, 2003 9:33 PM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh has won 50 games over the last two seasons with a Top 10 program that has the talent and depth to go deep into the NCAA tournament. What the Panthers didn't have until Sunday was a victory over Big East power Connecticut, at least since coach Ben Howland's hiring in 1999. Julius Page scored 11 straight Pittsburgh points early in the second half, then sealed the game on a free throw with 5 seconds left as the No. 8 Panthers overcame another furious Connecticut first half to win 71-67. Pitt led 67-60 with 2:43 remaining but didn't secure the victory until Brandin Knight and Page each made a free throw in the final 17 seconds. In between, UConn had the ball and a chance to tie, but Ben Gordon and Rashad Anderson each missed a 3-pointer on the same possession. "My heart dropped when he [Anderson] took that 3 from the wing," Howland said. "Talk about watching your life flash in front of your eyes."
Pittsburgh (21-4, 11-3), tied Syracuse for the Big East West Division lead with two games to play, won for the fifth time in six games and stopped a six-game losing streak to the Huskies. UConn beat Pitt 74-65 in a dramatic double-overtime game in the Big East final last March. That was the only close game of Pitt's three losses to Connecticut under Howland. But, for a change, Pitt was the more experienced team -- the Huskies rely heavily on four freshmen -- and it showed. "Pitt made up their minds they were going to win," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. It didn't look that way early. Connecticut (18-7, 9-5) led by as many as 13 points in a strong first half reminiscent of its 87-79 victory Monday at No. 10 Notre Dame, but couldn't finish off its 22nd victory in its last 34 games against a Top 10 team. The Huskies also were trying for consecutive wins over Top 10 teams for the first time since 1990. "Win or lose today, and I think we would know what kind of season it was going to be," said Chevy Troutman, who came off Pitt's bench for 13 points and 10 rebounds. "We know we can play with the best teams in the country ... but we [needed] to beat UConn." Despite Tony Robertson's 15 points and Gordon's 14, the Huskies fell into a tie with Boston College for the East Division lead. The top two teams in each division get first-round byes in the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden next week. "We have a young team, and experience is something a team needs," Calhoun said. "When it comes down the stretch, experience knows what play to make." That's why Calhoun said Pitt isn't the most talented team in the Big East, but is the best team. Pitt might be the team to beat in the conference tournament, now that it's beaten the other three teams in the conference's big four: UConn, Notre Dame and Syracuse. "Talent is toughness, talent is unselfishness," Howland said. "You can't be 50-10 over two seasons unless you have good talent." That talent didn't show up early in the game. Connecticut turned Robertson's outside shooting and Okafor's inside work into a 16-2 run and a 28-15 lead that temporarily quieted a raucous crowd of 12,508. Pitt's rally began when Okafor drew his second foul and sat out most of the final 10 minutes of the half. With the nation's leading shot-blocker on the bench, Pitt center Ontario Lett scored 10 of his 16 points before halftime. Okafor finished with 12 points and 5 blocks, but wasn't the factor in the second half he was early. "He is a very special player who changes games," Calhoun said. "The game changed when I had to take him out." With Okafor out, Pitt went on a 15-5 run to get to 35-33 on two free throws by Donatas Zavackas. The Panthers took their first lead since the opening minutes at 46-45 on Page's shot off the glass with 16:10 remaining. By then, Pittsburgh native Mark Cuban was cheering from his courtside seat, even though the Dallas Mavericks owner is an Indiana grad. Page, who had 17 points, scored every Pittsburgh point during a span in which the Panthers turned a 45-42 deficit into a 53-48 lead on his 3-pointer from the corner. With the Panthers tightening up defensively and no longer allowing the easy baskets UConn got early, the Huskies shot only 34.6 percent in the second half -- about half its 68 percent in the first half. Pitt won its 21st in a row at home, and can close out a 16-0
home season at the new Petersen Events Center by beating Seton Hall
on Wednesday night.
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