Panthers fall to Irish, 66-64

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – For the Pitt men’s basketball team, the Joyce Center continues to be a… SOUTH BEND, Ind. – For the Pitt men’s basketball team, the Joyce Center continues to be a tough place to play, but Sunday against Notre Dame, it was more than just the atmosphere that affected the Panthers.

No. 4 Pitt squandered a 10-point lead twice in the contest and ultimately fell to the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish, 66-64, after a second-half breakdown.

Coming into the contest, Pitt was just 7-13 at the Joyce Center with the Irish taking the last five games. The two teams met earlier this season on Jan. 6 at Pitt in both teams’ Big East opener, with the Panthers claiming a 72-55 victory, but the Irish capitalized on the home-court advantage, as they improved to 13-0 at the Joyce Center this season.

“What a great college basketball game,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said. “We know we beat an excellent basketball team.”

The loss drops the Panthers to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference while Notre Dame improves to 19-4 and 7-2 in the Big East, tying it with Syracuse for first place in the Big East West Division while Pitt falls half a game behind.

“It was a very tough loss but you have to credit them,” Pitt head coach Ben Howland said. “It was a tough atmosphere and we’re disappointed to be up and let it slip away.”

Pitt won the opening tip-off and took an early 2-0 lead on a basket by Julius Page, who was on the court as a game-time decision after not playing Tuesday night against Providence because of an ankle injury. But the Irish answered back by going on a 7-0 run and holding the Panthers scoreless until the 15:57 mark, when Brandin Knight hit the first of two free throws to make the score 7-3.

But a series of missed shots by Notre Dame and strong rebounding by the Panthers resulted in a 9-0 run for Pitt that included four more points from Page, who led the Panthers with 19 points in the loss. Back-to-back three-pointers from Carl Krauser and Jaron Brown put the Panthers ahead 18-12, but the Irish answered back with baskets from Matt Carroll and Torrian Jones to pull within one.

The two teams stayed close but Pitt maintained its lead with two baskets from Chevon Troutman and two more buckets from behind the arc by Page, giving the Panthers a 28-23 advantage with 7:18 left in the first half.

A three-pointer from Carroll once again pulled the Irish within one, 30-29, but a foul on Notre Dame’s Tom Timmermans put Troutman at the free-throw line where he connected on one of two shots. The Irish then tied the game at 31 on a basket by Chris Thomas, but Pitt pulled ahead again on a three-point play by Troutman.

The Panthers finished out the half by opening up an eight-point lead, 41-33, with baskets from Page and Troutman, who each had 14 points in the half, sandwiched around a three-pointer by Krauser.

Entering the half, the Panthers were outrebounding the Irish 24-10 and shooting 55 percent from the field, including 50 percent from behind the arc.

Ontario Lett, who was the Panthers’ leading scorer with 20 points in the last game against the Irish, connected on two free throws to open scoring in the second half, picking up his first points of the day.

The Irish closed the gap with two three-pointers from Carroll, moving within three, 45-42.

“[Carroll’s] going to get his shots. I just tried to be in his face,” Page said. “If he gets any kind of look, he’s going to make it.”

A three-pointer by Donatas Zavackas followed by a steal by Knight and later another basket by Page kept the Panthers ahead, 50-44.

But two baskets from Thomas later pulled the Irish within two. Then, a steal by Thomas and another basket knotted the game at 52, and gave momentum to Notre Dame and its fans. A foul by Knight put Jones at the line, where he missed the first shot but made the second, giving the Irish the lead with 10:01 left in the game.

Pitt regained the lead less than a minute later on two free throws by Troutman. But with less than six minutes left to play, Thomas nailed a shot from behind the arc to give the Irish the 58-56 lead and then added to it by sinking another basket to put Notre Dame up by four with 4:51 on the clock.

“He was great today,” Brey said of Thomas. “He’s a special talent. His shot selection was better today.”

A bucket by Zavackas cut the lead to two but Thomas answered with another basket for the Irish, once again opening up the four-point lead. With 2:27 remaining in the game, Page hit a shot from behind the arc to pull Pitt within one, 62-61. But a basket by Dan Miller put the Irish ahead by three, 64-61.

The Panthers regained possession and, faced with the situation of needing a basket, put the ball in the hands of Knight, who was zero-for-eight from the field until that point. But he sunk a three-pointer to tie the game with 30 seconds remaining.

Thomas moved the ball down court for the Irish and held onto it until seven seconds were left in the game, when he passed the ball to Torin Francis who put it in the net for the game-winning shot.

The Panthers took over with sixth tenths of a second to get off one last shot but the inbounds pass was deflected by the Irish around midcourt and the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game. Fans stormed the court as officials went to review the play to see if time expired before the pass went out of bounds and it was determined that it did, signaling the end of the game and the Notre Dame victory.

“We let the guy cut in front of us and he made the play,” Howland said.

Troutman finished the game with 16 points and added eight rebounds while Brown chipped in 10 points and Knight recorded eight assists. Thomas led the Irish with 24 and Carroll finished with 14.

The Panthers will look to rebound Wednesday night when they host West Virginia, but long-term issues are also a concern.

“It’s a matter of trying to buckle down and get more guys healthy,” Knight said.