Big East tournament: Pitt vs Cincinnati

NEW YORK – It must have been the history Pitt has at Madison Square Garden in New York,… NEW YORK – It must have been the history Pitt has at Madison Square Garden in New York, especially in the Big East tournament, for Pitt to play like the grind-you-down team that’s become a postseason fixture.

And win that way, too.

The Panthers limited Cincinnati to 38.9 percent shooting from the floor and survived a late Superman surge by Deonta Vaughn to beat the Bearcats, 70-64, in a first-round game of the Big East tournament last night.

Sam Young led the Panthers with 21 points, but his four blocked shots was the number that proved the most influential on the floor.

“Sam, he got down there and changed some shots,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I think in general our defense is getting better.”

That was a major ailment for Dixon and Pitt (23-9), especially during their three-game losing streak in February and in a loss at West Virginia on Mar. 3. The seventh-seeded Panthers regained a little of their defensive prowess in the first half, holding 10-seed Cincinnati (13-18) to 9 of 26 from the field. Pitt also held Vaughn, Cincinnati’s leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, to seven points in the first half.

Then Vaughn caught fire. What started with a 3-pointer at the nine-minute mark in the second half snowballed to four straight 3-pointers and 20 straight points for Vaughn to eventually cut Pitt’s once 11-point lead to just two points.

Ronald Ramon countered some of Vaughn’s scoring with his own outside shooting, hitting three 3s to quell some of Vaughn and Cincinnati’s momentum.

Vaughn, who ended up with a game-high 30 points, eventually cooled, and Pitt despite a showing of very suspect free-throw shooting in the waning minutes, edged out the win.

“I’m certainly glad we’re not going to have to play Vaughn again this week,” Dixon said.

The Pitt win was a familiar sight to most of the 19,562 at Madison Square Garden, which has seemingly become Pitt’s second home arena in recent past. With the win, the Panthers improved to 6-1 in their last seven Big East tournament games, and 7-1 in their last eight Big East tournament openers.

The Panthers are also 20-8 in their last 28 games in the World’s Most Famous Arena, and are 2-0 there this year.

“We have a lot of guys from New York,” Young said. “It’s like our second home.”

Pitt will find out just how sweet its second home is when it plays No. 2 seed Louisville in the semifinals at 7 p.m. tomorrow. The Cardinals beat the Panthers in their first home – the Petersen Events Center – 75-73 on Feb. 24.