How sweet it is

DAYTON, Ohio – Forget about his sore groin and the first 35-or-so minutes that he played. When… DAYTON, Ohio – Forget about his sore groin and the first 35-or-so minutes that he played. When Levance Fields has the ball at the end of the game, his teammates say they always know what’s going to happen. Like when there was 1:29 remaining in last night’s game and Pitt held a two-point lead against Oklahoma State, the Panthers had an inbounds pass from the left side of the basket. Sam Young found Fields on the right side, and the senior guard knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner. The shot meant a five-point lead for Pitt, an eventual 84-76 win in Dayton and a ticket to the Sweet 16 in Boston. It turns out that before he even took the shot, his teammates were celebrating. ‘We just knew that in the end, no matter what happened, he would step up,’ said sophomore guard Brad Wanamaker. ‘He and the seniors have carried us this season. We just knew.’ Senior forward Tyrell Biggs agreed. ‘He’s Mr. Big Shot,’ said Biggs, ‘There was no doubt.’ Just knowing that there’s no doubt makes Pitt coach Jamie Dixon give Fields the ball in that situation. It’s the reason why with all of Pitt’s Final Four dreams on the line, there wasn’t a question that he could do whatever he wanted with the ball. ‘I think my coach and my teammates, they all trust me in that situation, having the ball,’ said Fields. ‘ ‘It’s one thing to want it, but to have the faith of your coach and teammates is another. That’s special in itself.’ It wasn’t just Fields’ 3-pointer that made the difference. About one minute before, the Panthers and Cowboys were tied at 74. Oklahoma State had gone on a 9-0 run to bring the game back into grasp and the momentum was switched on the court. Fields drove through the paint, made contact with Oklahoma State’s Obi Muonelo and tossed up a shot off the backboard. The result: two points, a whistle on the Cowboys and another shift of momentum. That’s when it looked like Pitt had finally come together for good. While Fields had the clutch points in the end, Young was Pitt’s horse for the entire game. Young, who played all 40 minutes in the game, finished with 32 points and eight rebounds. While the Cowboys simply couldn’t miss in the first half ‘- they went 10-of-16 from 3-point range ‘- no one could contain Young. He went 9 for 12 with 23 points in the first period. Freshman Ashton Gibbs was the second-leading scorer in the half with nine points. Heading into halftime, Young was the reason Pitt played in the game at all. ‘We all know what Sam’s capable of, and he showed it again,’ said sophomore Gilbert Brown. ‘And we knew that in the second half, as long as we contested their shots, they couldn’t keep scoring like that.’ It took Oklahoma State more than nine minutes to score six points in the second period. Pitt gained the lead with as much as 11 points before allowing the Cowboys back in the game toward the end. For much of the game, Oklahoma State contained Pitt’s superstar center DeJuan Blair. He finished the first half with one point and three rebounds, and even gave Pitt fans quite a scare when he hit the ground after the Cowboys’ Byron Eaton’s shoulder slammed into his knee. After rolling on the ground for about one minute, Blair jumped up and jogged to the locker room. He turned out to be fine and, in the end, finished with his now-usual double-double. His 10 points and 12 rebounds helped Pitt defeat the Cowboys at the end of the second half. ‘It was a hard-fought game,’ said Blair. ‘But everybody, my three seniors and coaches, they kept me in the game and they kept my head in the game.’ The Panthers, who haven’t advanced past the Sweet 16 under Dixon and haven’t been national champions since the Great Depression, face No. 4-seed Xavier on Thursday in Boston in the East region semifinal.