Pitt completes perfect home season
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Panthers closed out the 2003 home season with a perfect record, clinched a Big East Tournament first-round bye, and bid three seniors adieu in one fell swoop by blowing the Seton Hall Pirates (16-10, 10-5) out of the Petersen Events Center, 86-54, Wednesday night. “What a great win in front of a great atmosphere and a perfect way to send those three kids out by winning their last home game in the city,” Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland said.
“It was also important for us to clinch the first round bye so we did not have to finish up the regular season on Sunday, then play a game on Wednesday.”
It was the worst loss of the season for the Pirates, and perhaps the best victory for the Panthers (22-4, 12-3) as the 12,508 fans in attendance gave seniors Ontario Lett, Donatas Zavackas, and Brandin Knight each a standing ovation as they victoriously exited in the last 1:34 of the game.
“Our seniors have won more games in their career than any player in the history of the school,” Howland said. “That’s quite an accomplishment in itself, and turning around this program all started with them.”
For the first seven minutes, the game was tight as both teams traded baskets to a 10-10 tie.
The Panthers then caught fire with almost-impeccable outside shooting and opened up a 24-10 lead with a 14-0 run. They never looked back in avenging what was their worse division loss this season when they lost to the Pirates at Seton Hall, 73-61 just 18 days ago.
“We threw a few new wrinkles on defense at them tonight,” Howland said. “We saw on film how they hurt us the first time and addressed that all week, so we were prepared tonight.”
The Panthers were up 40-24 at the half, but the game might as well been over at that point, because Seton Hall never came any closer in the second half.
Pittsburgh maintained a lead in the twenties most of the second half before finally winning by 32.
“We just weren’t ourselves tonight and we did not play Seton Hall basketball,” said Seton Hall head coach Louis Orr. “Pittsburgh had their a-game, and when you don’t guard a good team at their place on senior night, these things can happen to you.”
Julius Page led the charge of the A-Team brigade by topping all scorers with 16 points and added 6 rebounds and three steals.
“I tried to mix it up tonight and score from the outside and inside,” Page said. “I think we are playing our best basketball of the season right now because we are playing well on offense and defense.”
Four other Panthers scored in double figures with Lett scoring 15, Carl Krauser scoring 13, Zavackas scoring 11, and Jaron Brown adding 11. Knight only scored eight points, but dished out 10 assists and pulled down 6 rebounds.
Pittsburgh shot 61 percent from the field versus 34 percent the first time these two teams met this season.
They also forced 21 turnovers, 13 steals, and dished out 23 assists as a team.
“I thought our scoring was once again balanced between our players, and that is typical for us,” Howland said. “Brandin [Knight] doesn’t care about scoring points, he only cares about winning.”
Knight felt some added pressure on senior night since the sendoff ceremony was taking place after the game, but once the ball was tipped, he only focused on the game at hand.
“It would have been a tough senior ceremony if we would have lost the game,” Knight said. “We also had a lot at stake because we wanted to clinch that first round bye in the tournament.”