King Krauser — Senior scores career-high as Pitt drops Orange

When Carl Krauser finds his groove, he’s simply unstoppable.

Just a few days after… When Carl Krauser finds his groove, he’s simply unstoppable.

Just a few days after struggling in Pitt’s first loss of the season, the senior scored a career-high 32 points to lead Pitt to an 80-67 victory over Syracuse.

Krauser didn’t get on the board until he sank a 3-pointer just over five minutes into the game. But from there he went on to finish the first half with 11.

In the second half, it was all Krauser from the gates. He hit a layup on the fast break after a John DeGroat steal, then scored two more less than a minute later.

After the first media timeout, he came right down the floor and scored another driving basket. He attributed much of his success to Pitt’s getting Syracuse out of their famous 2-3 zone.

“[Hitting 3s] definitely opened them up,” he said. “When they switched to man, our eyes lit up and we saw the opportunity for a lot of positive things.”

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon agreed.

“I thought our patience was good,” he added. “We recognized a lot of things we needed to do against the zone.”

Pitt started the night with a hot hand, hitting five of their first eight shots. As usual, Aaron Gray found himself right in the middle of Pitt’s offensive production. He scored four of the Panthers’ first 15 points, and in that time dished out two assists.

Gray hit a cold streak after that, though. After making his first shot from the field, he missed his next nine attempts. He also found himself in foul trouble, picking up his second foul with 12:13 left in the first half.

But freshmen Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs both rotated in and out of the lineup to take over for Gray, and they made their presence felt. Young scored in his usual high-flying fashion, time and again bringing the crowd to its feet in a combination of joy and awe. And Biggs, who has done nothing but improve over the course of the year, gave Pitt five points in his nine minutes.

The Pitt bench as a whole played an enormous role in keeping Syracuse at bay. The reserves outscored their Orange counterparts 24-9. While the big men held down the floor for Gray, Keith Benjamin had his way with the Syracuse defense, scoring 11 points.

“I think we just shot so poorly in the last game that we just wanted to come out and get quality shots,” he said.

Benjamin and the bench fueled Pitt’s run late in the first half. Syracuse had tied the game at 17 with 10:18 to play in the first half, but the Panthers went on a 17-6 run to take an 11-point lead, and they did it with authority.

Pitt led 25-21 when Krauser missed a free throw, his only miscue from the line in the game. The Panthers got the rebound, and Ronald Ramon ended up finding Young underneath for two. Then the Panther defense got tough, stifling the Orange and forcing a shot clock violation.

A few possessions later, Benjamin flew along the right baseline to throw down a dunk that brought the Oakland Zoo to its feet, while Young also had five points in the sequence

Young converted an and-one after Krauser hit him on a fast break, then created another Zoo eruption when Kendall found him all alone under the basket. He leapt straight up and then crashed down with a tomahawk jam to extend the lead to 36-25.

Just like they did against Villanova last Saturday, Syracuse refused to go away despite the deficit. Darryl Watkins picked up his fourth foul trying to stop Krauser’s layup with 16:41 to play, and Krauser converted the free throw to give Pitt a 15-point lead at 51-36.

But then Eric Devendorf led the way back. He came down the floor to sink a basket that started an 18-7 run for the Orange, one which brought them within four at 58-54. He would finish with 18 points, tied with Gerry McNamara for the team high.

But the Panthers were simply too much for the Orange, scoring 22 of the last 35 points to close out the game.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said afterwards that his team simply ran out of gas. He offered that much of it had to do with their grueling schedule.

“We knew coming in that this [stretch] would be difficult,” he said. “I think we just played three teams that are all top-10 teams. We’re not a top-10 team right now.”

Dixon agreed that the Syracuse schedule was hard indeed, but wasn’t about to downplay the path anyone else has to travel.

“They have a tough road,” he admitted. “I think nobody has an easy schedule in the Big East,” he added.

Loose Balls: Pitt’s win was its third in a row against the Orange and eighth in the last 10 meetings. Still, Pitt trails the all-time series 60-33- Syracuse didn’t attempt a free throw in the second half, while the Panthers went 11-for-16 in the second period-Three Syracuse players fouled out as the Orange doubled the Panthers in fouls, 26-13-Carl Krauser’s 32 points were not only a career-high, but a Petersen Events Center record for a Pitt player – For the third game in a row, the Orange got off to a rocky start. In losses to Connecticut and Villanova, Syracuse fell behind 12-0 in both games. On Monday, Jim Boeheim’s team dug an early 7-0 hole-