Panthers come back to defeat Hoyas

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It wasn’t win number 41 in a row at home for Pitt, but, at the MCI Center… WASHINGTON, D.C. — It wasn’t win number 41 in a row at home for Pitt, but, at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., it sure felt like a home victory.

With shouts of “Let’s go Pitt” overpowering the few Georgetown students who attended Tuesday night’s game, the No. 3 Panthers overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat the Hoyas, 68-58, and improve to 25-2 (11-2 Big East) on the season.

“The crowd was tremendous,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “It was something to see. Our following is growing and growing.”

Down 41-33 with just over 10 minutes left in the game, the Panthers went on the prowl. Carl Krauser, who led all scorers with a career-high 26 points, scored seven straight for Pitt to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 41-40.

After a Georgetown timeout, the Panthers continued their attack. Chevon Troutman put back a Krauser miss to give Pitt its first lead of the game. After a defensive stop, Mark McCarroll hit a three-pointer, and, when all was said and done, Pitt had a 17-0 run, having held the Hoyas scoreless for seven minutes and 48 seconds in the middle of the second half.

With just over four minutes left in the game, Pitt had a commanding 50-41 lead.

“I felt like we needed points and we tried to change the momentum of the game,” Krauser said. “We tried to move the defense on ball fakes. I felt like I had to step up because I didn’t want to let the team lose.”

The key to the 17-0 run was rebounding.

Troutman scored 13 points Tuesday night, but his eight rebounds helped the Panthers out-rebound the Hoyas 40-20 for the game.

“We wanted to dominate the boards,” he said. “We hadn’t won on the boards in a few games, and we wanted to step our game up.”

The 10-point victory didn’t come as easy as it seemed. In the first half, Pitt turned the ball over 14 times, and Julius Page was held scoreless, shooting 0-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc.

For the game, Page had only four points — all on free throws. The Panthers trailed by as many as 13 points and scored a season-low 20 points in the first half to trail 28-20 at halftime.

“You’d like to be perfect every game,” Dixon said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and you got to respond right away and battle back.”

In the second half, Pitt began to figure out the Hoyas’ defense.

Georgetown spent most of the game in a zone defense, trapping the ball wherever it went. To counter this defense, Dixon put in another ball handler, Yuri Demetris, who, in Dixon’s mind, was the key player of the game.

“Yuri [Demetris] broke open the zone,” Dixon said. “He had three assists down low. Once you get the ball inside on a zone, you can break it down.”

All three of Demetris’ assists were to Chris Taft. Two of the three assists ended up in dunks by Taft, who finished the game with a double double — 12 points and 12 rebounds — and was insistent on getting the ball down low in the second half.

“I demanded the ball in the second half,” Taft said. “Yuri [Demetris], Carl [Krauser] and Julius [Page] penetrated real well, and they always looked for me.”

The Panthers took their largest lead of the game, 56-44, with two minutes left in the game. The Hoyas attempted a comeback, with Gerald Riley, who led the Hoyas with 25 points, hitting a three-pointer to pull Georgetown within five at 56-51.

But the Panthers hit 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to pull out their 25th victory of the season. Pitt is back at home Sunday to take on Syracuse at the Petersen Events Center at 4 p.m.