Panthers capture first Big East Championship

NEW YORK – The Pitt men’s basketball team was able to win its first Big East Championship in… NEW YORK – The Pitt men’s basketball team was able to win its first Big East Championship in school history with the one thing that has been a thorn in its side for the entire season.

Pitt was victorious as a result of its performance at the free-throw line, as it made 72 percent of its foul shots in its 74-56 win before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.

The Panthers were in the Big East Championship game the past two seasons and this was the first in which they earned a trophy.

“We battled through a lot of adversity all year long and I am just proud of how tough and determined our players are in terms of winning,” head coach Ben Howland said.

On Sunday, the Panthers received the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament and will play Wagner on Friday in Boston.

The No. 5 Panthers (26-4 Overall, 14-3 Big East) nailed 14 of their last 18 shots from the charity stripe. Foul shots accounted for 14 of Pitt’s last 17 points and allowed the Panthers to pull away in an otherwise tight game.

Chevon Troutman started the Panthers free-throw spree as he hit one-of-two from the foul line. Jaron Brown hit two, which were followed by Brandin Knight hitting two-of-three.

Brown went back to the charity stripe and knocked down two more and Donatas Zavackas hit two out of three foul shots. A three-pointer by Brown capped Pitt’s 13-2 run, which closed out the game.

UConn’s Taliek Brown scored the first point of the game as he hit one-of-two from the free-throw line.

Knight answered back at the other end with a basket, igniting a 7-2 run by the Panthers. Zavackas followed with a layup before Taliek Brown hit a jumper making the score 4-3. Knight hit a shot from beyond the arc giving Pitt a four-point lead.

The Huskies’ Hilton Armstrong scored their next basket and Denham Brown connected on a three-pointer, which gave UConn its second lead of the game at 8-7.

Jaron Brown gave Pitt a brief lead with a layup, but UConn’s Ben Gordon dropped another basket from downtown, which gave the Huskies another brief lead. The score would stay close until Pitt went on another 7-2 run.

With the Panthers up 25-19, the Huskies came back with a 6-0 run knotting the game at 25. Jaron Brown started a 5-0 run for Pitt with a jumper and the Big East Tournament’s Most Valuable Player Julius Page knocked down a three, putting Pitt ahead, 30-25.

UConn narrowed the Panthers’ lead to three before Emeka Okafor brought the Huskies (21-9, 10-7) within one going into halftime.

Entering the second half, the score was 36-35 in favor of Pitt and Page went to work. He drove the lane, then pulled up and hit a basket for the first points of the second half.

After an Okafor basket, Ontario Lett put back a missed shot by Page giving the Panthers a three-point cushion. Denham Brown scored as he was fouled by Carl Krauser and tied the game at 40 on his free throw.

Page scored four of the next six points as Pitt proceeded to go on a 6-0 run. He again pulled up and knocked down a jumper. On the Huskies’ next possession, Lett and Page ganged up on UConn’s Marcus White and Page stole the ball.

Jaron Brown did not let the steal go to waste, as he threw in a shot with his left hand. Page grabbed a defensive rebound on UConn’s next possession and followed with a layup in which he drove through traffic for the basket, putting Pitt up by six.

UConn came back as Gordon drilled another three-pointer, which cut the score to 46-43. The Huskies stayed within four points until Knight hit a three with 6 minutes, 53 seconds left in the game.

The closest the Huskies would come was 55-51 before Pitt closed out the game on a 19-5 run with most of the points coming from the charity stripe.

“That was an unbelievable win and performance by our team,” Howland said. “The third time is a charm and I can’t say enough about the toughness of our kids.”

Pitt’s defense held the Huskies to 21 points and eight-of-25 field goals in the second half after converting 15-of-25 field goals in the first half.

“It’s all pride, everybody on our team takes pride in their defense,” Page said. Everything [that] we do is team based.”

“They just out-toughed us,” Okafor said. “The played tough, hard defense and they stayed with the offense and we didn’t.”

Jaron Brown led all scorers with a career high 19 points and had 10 rebounds to complete the double double. Knight and Page were right behind him with 16 points each.

“They are a team that are expected to be there [the Big East Championship] every year and they have a program that has a good history,” Knight said about UConn. “We want to start making some history.”

“Pittsburgh is a well-deserved Big East champ,” Huskies’ head coach Jim Calhoun said.” They are the best team in the league.”

Pitt’s appearance in the Big East Championship Finals was made possible by a 61-48 win over Boston College in the semifinals Friday night.

That game started out close until the final nine minutes of the first half. The Panthers led 15-12 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds left before going on 14-5 run to end the first half.

Boston College (18-11, 10-6) cut the lead to 37-27 with 14 minutes, 59 seconds left in the game, but it would get no closer.

Zavackas led Pitt with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the double double. Page contributed 16 points and Lett had 11 points. The Eagles’ Troy Bell led all scorers with 21 points.

“We’ve had a very good year,” Howland said. “We have to just keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll be fine.”

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