Pitt edges ND in double OT

On the night the University honored the only three Panther basketball players in school… On the night the University honored the only three Panther basketball players in school history to have their numbers retired to celebrate 100 years of Pitt basketball, the Pitt Panthers scored 100 points.

They needed every one of them to defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 100-97, in double overtime.

The Panthers perfectly executed the play head coach Jamie Dixon drew up as Ronald Ramon hit a three-pointer to put the Panthers up for good.

With 28 seconds left on the clock and Pitt trailing 97-96, Dixon called his lone timeout of the second overtime period.

“Everyone executed exactly how we wanted to,” Dixon said. “Levance [Fields] penetrated and Sam [Young] set a great ball screen, and we had Aaron [Gray] ducking under in the block and Ronald was set up in the corner. They all executed perfectly and we got the result we wanted.”

Ramon’s shot, which he said was the biggest of his career, overshadowed the career night of Notre Dame senior point guard Chris Quinn, who scored 37 points.

Quinn’s career high, which also set a new Petersen Events Center record, left even his own coach in awe.

“It’s got to be one of the greatest performances in the history of our league,” Irish coach Mike Brey said of Quinn’s second-half effort.

What was most impressive about Quinn’s performance was how his 37 points came about. With just under eight minutes left in the second half, Quinn had only seven points.

In those final minutes Quinn seemed to hit shot after shot and finished with 18 points to bring his total to 25. Quinn took over the game as the Irish chipped away at a Pitt lead that grew to as large as nine, making six of eight shots from the field while hitting all three of his three-point attempts.

Colin Falls hit two three-pointers off of two Quinn assists to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime period, Quinn scored 10 of the Irish’s 16 points. Answering Quinn’s play was a young Panther squad. With senior point guard Carl Krauser fouled out, the Panthers had two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors on the floor for most of the overtime.

“Our young guys did a great job tonight,” Dixon said. “They did exactly what we asked of them.”

“I have this feeling in my body that’s just unexplainable,” Krauser said after the game. “I’m just so proud of the way these guys came out and battled and fought so hard in those overtimes and stayed together and got it done.”

Krauser wasn’t so bad himself. He finished the game with 21 points, five rebounds and six assists, but Dixon felt his play on the other end of the floor is what set the tone for Pitt.

“His defense was very good all night,” Dixon said. “Carl led the way like he always does, but it was nice to see him step up on the defensive end as well.”

One of Krauser’s steals led to a play that brought the capacity crowd to its feet.

As Irish guard Colin Falls drove to the hoop, Aaron Gray left his man to keep Falls out of the paint and Krauser sank down to cover Gray’s man. Falls never saw him and Krauser had an easy steal. Running the floor, Krauser led the Pitt fast break and found Gray trailing the play for an easy, two-handed dunk.

That dunk accounted for two of Gray’s career-high 25 points. He also pulled down 11 rebounds in the game while blocking four shots.

Despite his career night, Gray was happy he was able to play a clean defensive game, which enabled him to be on the floor for most of the two overtime periods.

“I think it was key for me to stay out of foul trouble,” Gray said. “In a game like this you want to be on the floor, and I was just glad that I was able to do that.”

Both coaches agreed afterwards that the game was a special one.

“It was just a great college basketball game,” Brey said.

“It was just an unbelievable game and I don’t know what else to say other than that,” Dixon added.