Pitt falls to Orangemen, 49-46

The Pitt men’s basketball team’s home winning streak, which was one of the longest in the… The Pitt men’s basketball team’s home winning streak, which was one of the longest in the nation, has ended.

“All it is is a story,” Pitt guard Julius Page said. “It will probably be in the paper tomorrow that it’s over. I wasn’t trying to win because of the streak — I hate to lose.”

Pitt’s 40-game home winning streak came to an end with a 49-46 overtime loss to the Syracuse Orangemen Sunday afternoon. The loss also was the first ever by the Panthers at the Petersen Events Center.

“It’s disappointing to lose any home game. I’m disappointed for our fans and team,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “It was an unbelievable streak, and we’ll have to start another one.”

The No. 3-ranked Panthers (25-3 Overall, 11-3 Big East) led for most of the first half, but seemed to have trouble with the Orangemen’s two-three defense for the remainder of the game.

Panther guard Carl Krauser fouled out of the game with Pitt trailing 40-38 and 1:03 left in regulation. After an Orangeman basket, the Panthers were down 42-38 with 46 seconds left, Page went up for a three-pointer in traffic and nailed it to bring the Panthers within one. Applied pressure by Pitt forwards Jaron Brown and Chevon Troutman caused Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick to travel with just more than 14 seconds left.

As the clock winded down, Page attempted to get the ball in to Troutman, but Orangemen center Craig Forth fouled him before he could get to the basket. Troutman knocked down the first free throw, but missed the final attempt, which allowed time to expire.

In overtime, Syracuse guard Josh Pace knocked down a field goal and Brown followed by making both of his shots from the charity stripe. Orangemen guard Gerry McNamara had not made a field goal in the game. But on Syracuse’s next possession Page decided to gamble and double-team Warrick.

Warrick, the game’s leading scorer with 17 points, dished the ball out to McNamara, who nailed his first three-pointer of the game — he had seven attempts — giving Syracuse a 47-45 lead. The Orangemen (19-6, 9-5) had scored all the points that they would need to win the game with that field goal.

“I kind of blame myself. I went to double [Warrick],” Page said. “[McNamara] hadn’t made a shot on me all game, and he hits a three –that gave them momentum.”

McNamara stuck the dagger deeper into the hearts of the Panthers by nailing two foul shots with 27 seconds left after Taft went to the foul line twice, but only nailed one foul shot each time to cut the deficit to one.

The converted foul shots put Syracuse back up by three. With just more than four seconds left in overtime, Pitt forward Mark McCarroll was unable to knock down a three-point attempt, and time expired as the two squads wrestled for the rebound.

Pitt was ahead 22-19 at halftime, but Syracuse grabbed the lead when it came out in the second half and scored the first four points of the half. Warrick nailed a field goal while Pace drove the paint and laid the ball in the basket to give the Orangemen their first lead of the game since 5:03 into the game at 23-22.

The Panthers finally got on the board with a bucket from Page as he was fouled. Page made his foul shot and put Pitt back ahead 25-23. McCarroll tipped in Page’s missed jumper on the Panthers’ next possession, but Pace came back with a basket for the Orangemen.

Ahead 27-25, McCarroll hit one of two foul shots, and guard Carl Krauser made a layup off of a steal. Pitt and Syracuse exchanged layups, but Warrick was fouled on his basket, which put him at the charity stripe. Warrick knocked down the free throw to bring Syracuse within two.

Forth knotted the game at 32 with a layup. On Pitt’s next possession, Dixon was hit with a technical foul, and McNamara made both free throws, which gave Syracuse a 34-32 lead. The Orangemen would never trail again.

The Panthers shot 34.6 percent from the floor in the first half, compared to 33.3 percent in the second half. Early on in the game, Pitt was able to get passes inside the paint, but missed layups.

“We missed three point-blank layups to start the game,” Dixon said. “Obviously our shooting was not great.”

Those opportunities did not appear to present themselves later in the game. Pitt scored 12 points in paint in both halves as compared to 16 and 18 in the first and second periods respectively for the Orangemen.

“Defensively, we did a good job of covering their shooters and then getting back inside,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I thought the way we battled defensively was key.”