With one run, Pitt put Dukes away

All 4,546 people in attendance at the AJ Palumbo Center Wednesday night could feel it.

The… All 4,546 people in attendance at the AJ Palumbo Center Wednesday night could feel it.

The Duquesne Dukes were about to make a run on Pitt.

Ryan Lambert shook Levon Kendall on the right wing and beat him to the basket, and then gently kissed a reverse layup off the glass to trim the Pitt deficit to nine at 37-28.

After Kendall answered with a short jumper in the corner, Pittsburgh native and senior guard Bryant McAllister brought the crowd to their feet with 16:32 remaining in the second half.

As soon as McAllister caught a pass near the right sideline, he aggressively got to the middle of the paint, ripped through two defenders and floated the ball to the rim as a foul was called on Ronald Ramon. As the ball went through the hoop, McAlister pumped his fist and screamed at the crowd.

He finished the old-fashioned, three-point play after a media time out and the Dukes cut Pitt’s game-long lead to just six, 37-31.

“He’s a good player who can make some tough shots,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “In this game [the city rivalry] you’re not going to blow guys out. Not in this place on the road. And we knew we needed to respond.”

Pitt looked for that response on their ensuing possession but Carl Krauser threw a lob over the head of 7-footer Aaron Gray.

The run was coming and everyone felt it. Everyone except Krauser and the Panthers, that is.

On arguably their biggest possession of the game, the Dukes turned the ball over and Krauser did what he will be asked to do many times for the Panthers this year – jump start the Pitt offense.

The senior brought the ball down the right sideline and drove toward the baseline. As several Dukes collapsed on him, he found sophomore Keith Benjamin wide open in the left corner for a 3-pointer. Benjamin knocked it down and took the life out of the crowd.

“That was a big shot Keith made,” Krauser said. “I was just trying to make the right read and the right play at the right time. We felt those guys getting closer and knew that they were getting on a roll, and if they got another basket it could get kind of crazy.”

On their next possession, the Panthers got four shots on one possession before Gray was fouled while converting a reverse layup.

After Gray made the free throw, the Panthers had extended their lead to 12, 43-31.

Krauser once again made a big play to officially stop any chance for the once-inevitable Duquesne run.

Krauser forced a turnover at mid-court and walked in all alone for a right-handed layup as Pitt’s lead swelled to an insurmountable margin, one which Duquesne never lowered to less than eight. Not even four minutes after a comeback run seemed inevitable, that same energized crowd could only run for the doors as Pitt eventually ran way with a 71-60 win, their eighth consecutive win in the City Game.

“It was important to stop their run because we’re playing on the road at the Palumbo Center,” Krauser said. “Those fans are ready to give any type of energy that they can, so we wanted to stop that right away. Once we did that, we just never looked back.”