Big East tournament: Pitt defeats Marquette

NEW YORK — Levance Fields had his own end of the bargain to hold.

When top-seeded… NEW YORK — Levance Fields had his own end of the bargain to hold.

When top-seeded Georgetown went into its locker room at Madison Square Garden up 33-21 on West Virginia before Pitt’s semifinal game against Marquette last night, Hoyas guard Jessie Sapp, Fields’ friend, saw the Brooklyn-native point guard in the stands as he ran off.

“He gave me a high five and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Fields said.

Sure enough, Georgetown held on to win. But Sapp almost didn’t see his friend, after Pitt let a 16-point halftime lead dwindle to three with less than a minute left. But Fields hit two clutch free-throws to pad the Panthers’ lead, and cement Pitt’s 68-61 win over Marquette (24-9), to ensure Pitt’s rendezvous with Georgetown in the Big East tournament final at 9 p.m. tonight.

“It’s a cliche, I know,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “But we have to take it one game at a time. We love playing in New York…and they take very good care of us up here.”

That’s an understatement, considering Pitt (25-9) advanced to its third straight Big East tournament final, and its seventh in the last eight years. While the Panthers have only won one of those (2003), and dropped the final to Georgetown last year, 65-42, Pitt feels as if it’s playing its best basketball since early in the season. “Hopefully that continues [tonight],” Fields, who finished with 12 points, four assists and five rebounds, said. “[Marquette] shot 31 percent, and that’s knowing how Pitt plays defense.” Pitt started the game on a pivotal 16-4 run, during which all five of the starters scored. The Panthers parlayed the early lead into a 35-22 halftime advantage, limiting Marquette to 8 of 31 shooting and every Marquette player aside from Jerel McNeal to one field goal or less, and getting McNeal in foul trouble.

“Obviously, [McNeal]’s a great player,” Dixon said. “I liked the way that we got him. We took some charges, and that was something that we emphasized going into this game, and that was big.” Pitt had its own foul trouble to contend with. DeJuan Blair was pulled after committing his second foul with a little less than 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Panthers still streamlined their offensive sets, only attempting five 3-pointers, and getting the majority of their points from 10 feet or closer. Pitt was even better defensively, forcing 13 Marquette turnovers.

But it wouldn’t be the post-season, or a Pitt-Marquette game, for that matter, if the Golden Eagles didn’t make a comeback. Sure enough, Marquette mounted a run spurred by Wes Matthews, David Cubillan and Lazar Hayward while McNeal sat on the bench with four fouls.

Pitt pulled away in the last couple minutes, though, with key free-throw shooting from Fields, Sam Young, who led Pitt with 22 points, and Keith Benjamin. The three combined to shoot 8 for 10 from the stripe in the last four and a half minutes.

“I feel very comfortable with all our guys up here knocking down free throws at the end,” Dixon said. “These guys, you’re talking about guys that won state championships and city championships. You know, they didn’t win just because they came here; they’ve won all their lives.”