Page’s three helps Pitt hold off Fighting Irish

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One play defined Pitt’s 66-58 win over Notre Dame Saturday. One play… SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One play defined Pitt’s 66-58 win over Notre Dame Saturday. One play twisted the knife in the Irish’s heart and sealed the first victory for Pitt in South Bend since 1998. That play was a simple three-pointer by Julius Page.

With three minutes left in the game, Chris Thomas did what Pitt fans saw him do seven times in Pittsburgh — hit a three-pointer. The shot cut the Panthers lead to 56-52. The Joyce Center crowd rose to its feet, as the Irish were within striking distance of the No. 4 Panthers.

Carl Krauser dribbled the ball frontcourt and passed to Yuri Demetris at the top of the key. Demetris, who was only in the game because of Jaron Brown’s foul troubles, threw a solid bounce pass to Page in the right corner of the court. With no hesitation, Page took the shot, and hit nothing but the bottom of the net. He answered Thomas’ three-pointer with one of his own, putting Pitt on top 59-52 and sealing the Panthers’ season sweep of the Irish.

“I shot it with confidence, and I knew it was going down,” Page said “The guy that was guarding me was staying on top of the screen, so I stayed in the corner, and I was open, so I just took the shot.”

In one shot, Page spoke out loud for a senior class and a team that had seen the Holy Ghost at Notre Dame. The class with the most wins ever in Pitt basketball history had finally defeated the Irish on its home court.

The biggest weapon Notre Dame presented to Pitt was its three-point shooting ability. In the first half the Irish started the game on a 15-2 run which included three three-pointers by Thomas. Overall, Notre Dame used six three’s in the first half to gain a six-point halftime lead.

“Over the last couple of years they always get off to an excellent start by hitting a lot of threes,” Krauser said. “We just knew that if we kept our composure, followed the seniors, kept our young players in the game, and locked down on defense, then we’d be alright.”

The second half was a different story.

Pitt started the second half on a 17-4 run to take its first lead of the game. During the stretch, Notre Dame’s weapon from the first half fell silent. The Irish missed four shots from beyond the arc during the Panthers run and didn’t hit a three until there were only seven minutes remaining in the game.

After hitting 46.2 percent from the three-point line in the first half, Notre Dame hit only two of 10 threes in the second half. Meanwhile, Pitt hit four second half three-pointers, two from Krauser, one from Brown and the biggest shot of the game from Page.

“The key play of the game was Julius’ three,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Yuri [Demetris] made an unbelievable bounce pass, and the play had perfect execution.”