Men’s basketball drops second at home

Pitt’s chances of tying the game at 66 against Georgetown flew out of bounds with the ball… Pitt’s chances of tying the game at 66 against Georgetown flew out of bounds with the ball that Chevon Troutman errantly threw several feet over Ronald Ramon’s head.

Hoya guard Ashanti Cook then hit the first of his two free throws with five seconds left to seal the 67-64 upset victory at the Petersen Events Center.

Cook finished with 23 points and shot four-for-four from the 3-point line, but it was his teammate Brandon Bowman who scored the most crucial points of the night.

After a timeout called by Hoya coach John Thompson III, Bowman controlled the ball and moved around the right wing before driving in for the game-winning layup with 8.4 seconds left. Bowman, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, said he was just hoping not to lose possession of the ball during his drive to the hoop.

His coach was worried about something else.

“I was afraid we would get a shot too soon,” Thompson said.

The 8.4 seconds on the clock was plenty of time for the Panthers, but after Troutman’s pass soared out of bounds, the crowd moved to the exits, signaling that the game was lost.

Troutman’s throwaway was one of Pitt’s 11 turnovers in the second half. Turnovers plagued Pitt in its loss to Bucknell just three days prior. The Panthers turned the ball over 15 times in the first half against the Bison.

Panther head coach Jamie Dixon said that they had their chance to pull away in the second half, but the team made some bad decisions. He also said the loss cannot be blamed on the turnovers alone.

“You don’t win a game ’cause of one thing, you don’t lose a game ’cause of one thing,” Dixon said.

Pitt fell behind by 19 points early in the first half when Georgetown opened up a 28-9 lead with a 15-0 run, powered by 3-pointers from Cook, Jonathan Wallace and Bowman. The Hoyas, as a team, shot 9-for-12 from 3-point range in the opening half.

Chris Taft, who scored 20 points in the loss, expressed his disappointment for the first-half performance after the game.

“We put ourselves in a big hole,” he said, adding, “There’s no reason why we should be down by 28-9, at home. That’s 19 points!”

After the run, Georgetown finally cooled off, and the Panthers made a run of their own that would bring them and the crowd back into the game. Pitt went on a 25-8 run to cut the Hoya lead to 36-34.

Bowman, however, pushed the Hoyas ahead 39-34 with a 3-point shot as time expired.

Pitt freshman Ronald Ramon, who finished with nine points, started and ended the run with 3-pointers. Carl Krauser scored 12 points in the run, nine of which came from the free-throw line.

Krauser also set up the play that brought the Panthers within two points of the Hoyas, 33-31. He drove down the court and passed across to Antonio Graves, who was outside the low post. Graves then dished the ball inside the paint to Taft, who rose up for the dunk.

Georgetown followed with a 3-pointer from Darrel Owens, then Ramon hit his.

Pitt opened up the second half with an 8-0 run, with two turnaround shots from Taft and a 3-pointer left of the key by Yuri Demetris, his first points of the night. Taft converted a free throw after his second turn-around shot.

After the Hoyas regained the lead at 51-49, Pitt fought back again taking a 59-53 lead on a 3-pointer from Antonio Graves.

Krauser scored only three points in the second half, and Troutman was held to a meager five points for the entire game.

“We got to make it go our way,” Taft said. “We just have to get over this big hump and get ready for our game on Saturday.”

The Panthers, who unveiled their 2004 Big East regular season championship banner before Wednesday’s game, will travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers (6-4). Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday.