Taft leads Panthers past Providence

The Friars’ fate was sealed last night when Chris Taft won the jump ball for the second time…. The Friars’ fate was sealed last night when Chris Taft won the jump ball for the second time.

As a loose ball was heading out of bounds in Pitt’s 86-66 win over Providence, Carl Krauser hustled after it and threw the ball back into play.

Taft stood under the ball, jumped and tipped it into his team’s possession. Krauser controlled the ball at the top of the key with the shot clock ticking down. He spun around Friar guard Donnie McGrath and attempted a layup. The ball hit the front of the rim, and Taft swooped in to rebound and dunk the ball — all in one motion.

The dunk ignited the crowd at the Petersen Events Center and gave Pitt a 64-45 lead with 9:06 remaining in the game.

Head coach Jamie Dixon was pleased with his players’ hustle.

“That was a great save by Carl,” he said. “Chris went after it… We had a number of guys going after it. That was just a play that kind of stuck out.”

The closest the Friars ever got to Pitt was when they cut it to eight points at the 14:26 mark in the second half. After Krauser’s play that saved the ball from going out of bounds, the Panthers just continued to pile on the points, going on a 17-8 run in the middle of the half.

Taft scored a season-high 25 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to record his third double-double of the year, and his first since Coppin State back on Dec. 18. He had been struggling lately, but don’t tell that to Providence head coach Tim Welsh.

“Don’t you ever say that to me,” he said. “That guy is a monster.”

Krauser (19 points) and Chevon Troutman (14) also finished in double digits. Krauser dished out nine assists in the game. This is the second game in which Krauser has notched 19 points.

His fast-break layup in the second half helped the Panthers pull away.

After a Keith Benjamin 3-pointer, Krauser stole the ball and laid in for two easy points. Troutman followed with a three-point play, placing the Panthers out in front by 16 points with 12:49 remaining in the game.

Soon thereafter, Taft added three points on a bucket and a free throw.

Pitt finished the night shooting 87.5 percent (21 for 24) from the free-throw line. The majority of the free throws came in the first half, as the Panthers hit 12 of 15 in the frame.

Ramon was six-for-six from the charity stripe in the first half, and recorded nine first-half points. However, he did not score once in the second half.

The Panthers went into the locker room with a lead for the first time since their win over Seton Hall on Jan. 15. Since then, Pitt has gone into the half with deficits to St. John’s (-1), UConn (-11) and Syracuse (-5).

In the first half, Pitt has built leads of 10 points three times, powered by good shooting from the field (58.3 percent) and even better shooting from the line (80 percent).

Gomes was held in check, connecting on only four of his 12 shots from the field. He also missed all four of his 3-point attempts, air-balling two of them, including a wide-open shot at the buzzer.

Krauser awed the crowd in the first half with a crossover move that left the Oakland Zoo dizzy.

After missing an easy layup on a fast break, he stood at the top of the key with eight seconds showing on the shot clock. He crossed over several times, including a behind-the-back move, all of which confused the defending Friar.

Krauser easily moved past him toward the low post, where he jumped and floated a shot off the glass for two.

“It’s real fun. It’s real fun,” Krauser said of his ability to penetrate. “It’s always fun to get past your defender.”

Ramon followed later with a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Panthers an early 12-6 lead.

After a Taft dunk, Kendall grabbed a loose ball and tossed out to Krauser. The junior point guard ran down the court, abruptly stopping in the paint and putting up a shot that bounced on the rim for a few seconds before falling through the net. The bucket gave Pitt a 22-17 lead with 8:20 left in the first half.

Pitt built its biggest lead with less than four minutes in the first half, after Ramon connected on two free throws to make it 34-24.

Gomes finished with 24 points, the 11th time he has stood atop the 20-point plateau this season. Prior to the game, he was averaging 19.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game — both statistics lead his team.

He was, however, held to only three rebounds in the game, as the Panthers out-rebounded the Friars 39-24 in the game.

“They’re a load to handle,” Welsh said. “They beat us up. They really crushed on the boards.”

Pitt has now won five of the last six games against Providence. The Panthers’ 20-point margin of victory came close to last year’s margin of 27 points, when Pitt beat Providence 88-61 on March 4, 2004.

“We knew coming in that Pitt was playing their best basketball,” Welsh said. “They kind of look like their old self.”

The Panthers will travel to West Virginia on Saturday to take on the Mountaineers at 6 p.m.