Pitt in Wright State of mind

BUFFALO – Pitt had that look.

Only a half hour after watching sixth-seeded Duke squander a… BUFFALO – Pitt had that look.

Only a half hour after watching sixth-seeded Duke squander a 13-point lead in front of a raucous, pro-underdog crowd, the Panthers appeared on the verge of doing exactly the same. They had the look of a team trying not to get upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Few could blame the players for thinking about it. After all, Pitt had just watched 14th-seeded Wright State fight all the way back to knot this previously one-sided contest midway through the first half. With each bucket, what was once a seemingly neutral, capacity crowd grew fond of the underdog Raiders. Suddenly, the obscure school from Dayton, Ohio, had reason to believe, and a rowdy crowd of 18,646 felt the same.

Then, Pitt got serious about not letting this one slip away.

The Panthers went on a tear, getting a pair of 3-pointers from junior Ronald Ramon to spark what would turn out to be a game-changing 32-10 run. Pitt got up by double figures shortly thereafter and never looked back in rolling to a 79-58 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

The win moves Pitt into the second round for the sixth time in seven years, the only exception coming in 2005 when the team lost to Pacific in the opening round. Waiting in the wings will be 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (28-6), which stunned sixth-seeded Duke 79-77 on a jumper from sophomore guard Eric Maynor with 1.8 seconds left in the first game of the evening.

The jumper capped off a 22-point night from Maynor and completed a 13-point comeback for the Rams, the Colonial Athletic Conference champions, in front of a vivacious, sellout crowd that grew more pro-VCU with each bounce.

Smelling a second upset on the day, Wright State (23-10) looked to get off to a hot start behind senior leader and Horizon League Player of the Year DaShaun Wood and his 19.8 point-per-game average. The capacity crowd, still abuzz with giddiness from the VCU upset, appeared more than happy to be on the Raiders’ side.

The Panthers (28-7), perhaps fearing a slow start might get the crowd a little too involved, wouldn’t let that happen.

Only five days after an abysmal shooting outing against Georgetown, a game in which the Panthers scored the fewest points of any team in the Big East Championship game and shot 16-for-61 from the floor, Pitt hit its first three shots from behind the 3-point arc and got ahead 13-0 before the Raiders would even find the basket.

That lead was short-lived, though, as a few Pitt turnovers and a couple of Wright State 3-pointers led the way to the tie score. Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon called a timeout and his team settled down from there. Pitt hit a few free throws and then got a pair of buckets from Sam Young to get the lead back to 30-27. Ramon and Graves sandwiched 3-pointers around another bucket from Young as the lead grew back to 11 at 38-27.

Pitt got a steal at the other end when point guard Levance Fields broke up a floating pass. The sophomore grabbed the loose ball and, on his way down, threw it into the open frontcourt. Young swooped in from the right side, collected the ball and skied to the hoop. He laid it up, and it bounced high of the rim before falling through.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Panthers got a defensive stop and then another wide-open 3 from Ramon, and suddenly the lead had become an insurmountable 15 points as most of the crowd came to the second half dressed as empty seats.

In all, Pitt hit seven of its 12 first-half 3s with five of the makes coming from different players. The Panthers spread out the scoring pretty evenly on the game, putting five players in double figures on the night. Ramon (14), Cook (12), Young (12), Graves (10) and Gray (10) led the Pitt scoring attack.

Dixon’s team would get up by as many as 25 and would never lead by fewer than 16, giving the starters plenty of time to rest before tomorrow’s second-round game against the Rams.

Tip-off for the second-round game will be at 5:50 p.m. and the game will be televised by CBS. A win will move Pitt into the Sweet 16 next weekend, held in San Jose, Calif.