Pitt edges Seton Hall in a thriller

Pitt’s star center, Aaron Gray, sat on the bench with a boot on his left foot last night,… Pitt’s star center, Aaron Gray, sat on the bench with a boot on his left foot last night, sidelined by an ankle injury, and watched the Panthers challenge Seton Hall in a Big East showdown.

His awkward landing after collecting a rebound against Washington Saturday was enough to force the 7-foot senior out of the first of Pitt’s final four Big East games.

And the Panthers felt his absence early.

In spite of some late-game tension, Pitt outlasted host Seton Hall 71-68 at Continental Airlines Arena in South Orange, N.J. The victory pushed the Panthers back into sole possession of first place in the Big East standings before Georgetown hosts them Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We’re excited for our guys for how they battled through things,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “I thought we played well after that really slow start.”

Seton Hall (13-13, 3-10 Big East) sprinted to a 14-4 lead, capitalizing on a handful of offensive rebounds and turnovers to score early put-back points on the sluggish Panthers. The Pirates, playing without a player taller than 6-9, out-hustled the Panthers to loose balls and showed why they rank second in the nation in team steals, slapping and reaching at every chance.

But Pitt (24-4, 11-2) responded. The Panthers scored with an array of high-percentage shots and transition baskets, racing into a 21-18 lead on the heels of 8-for-11 shooting and a 17-4 run over a six-minute span.

In the wake of Gray’s injury, 6-10 fifth-year senior Levon Kendall and 6-8 sophomore Tyrell Biggs shared the center position. The forwards combined for 12 points and six rebounds in the first half, carrying Pitt to a 30-26 lead at the break.

“We had to do some things differently without [Gray],” Dixon said. “Our guys stepped up in a lot of ways. We wanted to win the battle of the boards and [Kendall, Biggs and Sam Young] helped us do that.”

Kendall, the focal point of media criticism over recent weeks, totaled 14 points and six rebounds. His 6-for-7 shooting came after a 2-for-9 performance against Washington that wrought a firestorm of questions surrounding his starting job.

Seton Hall guard Jamal Nutter wreaked havoc on Pitt’s perimeter defense and kept the Pirates alive with his shooting range and penetration. The 6-2 junior led all scorers heading into halftime with 11 points and finished with 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting.

But it was Nutter’s backcourt partner, Eugene Harvey, who stole the show, scoring 24 points while continuing his run as one of the Big East’s preeminent newcomers. The 6-foot freshman contributed his eighth consecutive double-digit performance and his 24th of the season.

Yet Pitt, winner of eight of its last nine and 13 of its last 15 games, worked its combination of inside and outside scorers to overwhelm Seton Hall. As Biggs and Kendall worked with starting power forward Sam Young in the lane, Pitt’s myriad guards asserted themselves at varying rates throughout the contest.

Junior Ronald Ramon sank two 3-pointers in the waning moments of the first half to pace the Panthers. The 6-1 combination guard finished with nine points off the bench, seemingly snapping his recent shooting struggles with 3-for-5 shooting.

After seeing the problems Pitt experienced against Louisville’s full-court press, Seton Hall instituted its own pressure, using double teams and ball swarming to test the Panthers. But Mike Cook, Antonio Graves and Levance Fields worked with Ramon to handle the challenge.

Pitt finished with 15 team turnovers, most of which came against Seton Hall’s late-game pressure.

“We were very good until the very end,” Dixon said. “We need to be a little more aggressive and stronger with the ball. But we did a great job throughout the game handling the pressure and getting good shots.”

Seton Hall stuck around throughout, but Young’s early second-half jam and back-to-back layups helped Pitt stay ahead of the Pirates. The 6-6 sophomore scored seven of his 11 total points in the second period, taking advantage of his season-high in minutes.

While Young paced the Panthers, Fields cracked the Pirates.

The 5-10 sophomore caught fire midway through the second half, torching Seton Hall with a 3-pointer and a floater in succession to push Pitt a 14-point advantage, its biggest lead of the night. The fiery point guard finished with 15 points and [] assists.

With three minutes left, Pitt turned the ball over against Seton Hall’s pesky press. But on Seton Hall’s ensuing possession, Nutter’s errant pass found Fields’ hands.

The shifty guard did the rest, coasting the length of the floor to lay the ball in over a pursuing Pirate defender.

“He hit some big shots,” Dixon said. “I liked his play because he was patient. He knocked down some key shots for us and found a lot of guys underneath the basket.”

Cook tallied eight points and Graves had four from starting roles. Biggs scored six points in 20 minutes.

Gray’s status for Saturday’s game at Georgetown remains unknown, but with four days’ rest between games, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year is expected to be ready for the three-game swing, which finishes Pitt’s regular season.

“We’re going to shoot for Saturday and see how it goes,” Dixon said. “There’s a lot of swelling and discoloration.”

At 11-2, the Panthers are one half-game ahead of Georgetown in the Big East. The Hoyas travel to Cincinnati Feb 21. Georgetown has to beat Pitt Saturday if the Hoyas wish to share the Big East title in the event of tied final standings.

Last night’s win pushed Dixon’s career win total to 100 in his fourth season as Pitt’s head coach.