Basketball: Panthers miss last second shot, lose game one

With less than one second to go in the game and the men’s basketball team down by one point,… With less than one second to go in the game and the men’s basketball team down by one point, head coach Jamie Dixon called Lamar Patterson’s number.

But it wouldn’t be a moment of heroics for the sophomore guard; his game-winning attempt didn’t fall, and the Panthers lost 67-66 in the first of a three-game championship series with the Washington State Cougars.

The game was an appropriate representation of the Panthers season — one filled with streaks of good and bad, both offensively and defensively.

After surviving the first round of punches from the Panthers, Washington State rode the strong play of senior guard Abe Lodwick, who scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Lodwick was coming off back-to-back career nights and continued to carry the Cougars as their leading scorer.

Early on, the Panthers jumped out to an 8-2 start. After the Cougars rallied to take a 17-12 lead, the Panthers came back even stronger — going on a 13-0 run led by J.J. Moore that put them ahead 25-17. It would be the last time the Panthers had control over the game.

Washington State responded to the run by calling a timeout. From there, it began an 8-3 run that took the game to 28-25, Pitt. At that time, Washington State was shooting 5-of-6 from the 3-point line, a pace that seemed unrealistic to maintain.

But the Cougars would keep finding ways to score, and the Panthers’ lead continued to diminish at the start of the second half. After his team played poor perimeter defense in the first 20 minutes, Dixon recognized the Cougars’ strengths.

“They’re shooting the ball well right now,” Dixon said to a reporter before heading into the locker room.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the Panthers defenders noticed. After scoring on their first possession, Pitt left Lodwick — arguably Washington State’s best 3-point shooter — wide open on the baseline to make it a 40-38 Pitt lead.

With 16:44 left in the game, a DaVonte Lacy free throw put the Cougars ahead 43-42, and they never relinquished the lead.

After going ahead 60-48, an 11-2 Pitt run cut the Washington State lead to 62-59. But when it counted, the Panthers couldn’t stop Lodwick, who responded with a huge three to make it 65-59.

With 1:01 left, the Panthers began their final push as Talib Zanna turned a perfect pass from Lamar Patterson into a 3-point play. His free throw made it a two-point game with one minute left.

But when Zanna got back to the line 56 seconds later, he was only able to hit one of two free throws, and the Cougars clung to their one-point lead. Lodwick rebounded Zanna’s miss, was fouled and then missed the first of a one-and-one to open the door for the Panthers’ last-second opportunity.

With just less than four seconds to play and down by one, Pitt tried to get the ball into the hands of Travon Woodall. The junior guard covered the length of the floor before having his layup blocked out of bounds with .8 seconds left to set up Patterson’s last-second shot attempt.

Once again, senior guard Ashton Gibbs was essentially a non-factor. The sharp shooting senior went scoreless against Butler and managed just nine points against Washington State on 3-of-8 shooting.

The Panthers will need to win the final two games of the seires in order to take the College Basketball Invitational Championship. Game 2 will be at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.