Young, Pitt lay waste to Providence

Providence scored the first basket of the second half in last night’s Big East contest at the… Providence scored the first basket of the second half in last night’s Big East contest at the Petersen Events Center on a putback layup by center Randall Hanke to cut Pitt’s lead to 42-39.

Then, No. 22 Pitt (19-5, 7-4 Big East) ran away with the game. On the heels of a 21-2 run, the Panthers annihilated the floundering Friars, 82-63.

Pitt forward Sam Young had a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds to ignite a Pitt offense that had failed to score 70 points in each of its past four contests. Young led the Panthers to 17 second-chance points and 19 points off turnovers. It was the 6-foot-6-inch forward’s presence in the paint that made the difference.

Young and company compiled 46 points in the lane to soften the heart of Providence’s 2-3 zone defense. Pitt center DeJuan Blair added 15 points and seven rebounds, doing all of his damage in the interior of Providence’s defense.

“Young is terrific, he’s a great player,” Providence coach Tim Welsh said. “Their power inside is evident.”

Pitt’s inside dominance forced Providence to pack in its defense, leaving Pitt sharpshooter Ronald Ramon wide open on the wing numerous times. The senior point guard scored 15 points, all of which came from beyond the 3-point line. Ramon also had six assists.

“Ronald is great,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He has to guard their best guy. He has to get shots, and he has to get other people shots.”

As a team, Pitt had 22 assists to just eight turnovers, and four players scored in double figures. It was exactly the kind of game Dixon wants from his team each time the Panthers play.

“For 40 minutes, we moved the ball really well,” Dixon said. “We passed it really well, found the open man.”

Pitt’s assist-to-turnover ratio made a big difference. Providence committed 14 turnovers, including six in Pitt’s game-ending run to start the second half, and never recovered the traction that allowed it to score 37 first-half points.

Providence (13-11, 4-8) shot 58 percent as a team in the first half. The Friars made five of their 11 3-pointers, silencing the crowd several times with long triples. But Providence’s 36-percent second-half shooting clip did it in, and Pitt’s ability to find open layups separated the Big East foes.

“They’re a fantastic team defensively,” Welsh said. “I suspect that after we shot 58 percent that Pittsburgh talked about increasing the defensive intensity, and they did.”

Providence freshman Marshon Brooks led Providence with 15 points in 18 minutes off the bench.

Rhode Island’s former two-time Mr. Basketball Jeff Xavier had 14 points. The 6-foot-1-inch junior transfer from Manhattan hit three 3-pointers before the first media timeout.

The Friars’ best all-around player, small forward Geoff McDermott, who averaged 10.4 points and a team-leading 8.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game coming into the contest, was held in check for the entire game.

The 6-foot-7-inch junior fouled out with 3:26 to play. He finished with seven points, three rebounds and two assists. He had four turnovers.

“He likes to pass a lot,” said Young, who guarded McDermott. “I fronted him in the post, put some pressure on him.”

Providence’s big man Randall Hanke was the only consistent source of interior offense. The 6-11 Hanke had 10 points and five rebounds. But Hanke’s presence didn’t help – the Friars were outscored in the paint by 20 points.

“I was worried about Blair and Young,” Welsh said. “Blair just pushes people around in there.”