No. 16 Pitt rallies by Louisville in OT
February 24, 2008
PITTSBURGH (AP)—Louisville couldn’t be playing much better in February. TheCardinals can only hope it leads to a great March—and maybe, April, too.
David Padgett bounced back from a rare poor game to make three of four freethrows in the final 32.1 seconds and No. 18 Louisville moved back into afirst-place tie in the Big East, holding on to beat Pittsburgh 75-73 Sunday forits seventh consecutive victory.
Padgett finished with 21 points and reserve Edgar Sosa had 15 of his 18points in the first half as Louisville (22-6, 12-3) tied No. 12 Georgetown(22-4, 12-3) for the conference lead and became the first visiting team to wintwice at Pitt since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002. Pitt is 94-10there.
Sam Young and DeJuan Blair scored 20 points each for Pitt (19-8, 7-7), whichonce was 15-2 but has since skidded into an eighth-place tie in the Big East bylosing three in a row and six of 10. Pitt had lost three straight only oncepreviously in coach Jamie Dixon’s six seasons, to Villanova, West Virginia andConnecticut in February 2005.
Louisville, positioning itself for a high seed in the Big East tournament,won its ninth in 10 games and improved to 8-2 on the road. The Cardinals havewon their last 12 games in February, seven this month.
“I do,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said when asked if he thinks theseCardinals have a deep tournament run in them. “I think we have depth and weexecute well, and that’s the key. Padgett just helped everything offensive anddefensively. He’s like having a coach on the floor. Generally you don’t see7-footers do that, show that much leadership ability.”
Last season, Louisville’s 66-53 upset win over then-No. 7 Pitt propelled theCardinals to a six-game winning streak to end the regular season and an NCAAtournament berth. The NCAA looks to be a lock for the Cardinals this season, butPadgett likes how they’re playing well again when the games really count,especially on the road.
“This is a tough place to play and their crowd really seemed to be goingtoday,” Padgett said.
Padgett came back with a strong game—9-of-13 shooting with six rebounds in28 minutes—after being limited by foul problems to one shot and one point in17 minutes during a 61-50 win over Syracuse on Monday. He averaged 16.3 pointsin the Cardinals’ previous three games, after missing 10 games early in theseason with a broken kneecap.
Pitt never led in the second half—the Cardinals led by as many as eight—but Blair got the Panthers back to within a point at 71-70 by making two freethrows with 21.6 seconds remaining. After Padgett responded by making both endsof a 1-and-1, Blair tried to score inside and missed with 7 seconds left whenPitt needed a 3-pointer to force overtime.
“We didn’t want to give up the 3 there,” Pitino said, recalling RonaldRamon’s buzzer-beating 3 to beat West Virginia 55-54 on Feb. 7. “They weretaking what they could get there.”
Ramon did hit a long but meaningless 3 for Pitt just ahead of the buzzer,after Andre McGee rebounded a missed free throw, was fouled and sank both foulshots with 5 seconds remaining to make it 75-70.
Point guard Levance Fields scored eight points in his first start sincebreaking a foot Dec. 30, but Pitt lost for only the second time in its last 18home games.
Still, Pitino thinks the Panthers are an NCAA team because of their strongRPI rating and quality wins over Duke and Georgetown.
“This conference fries everybody,” he said.
Fields is certain Pitt will make it to the tournament despite its slide,especially now that he is back.
“We’ve got to find a way,” he said. “We’re right there. This is aresilient bunch and I think this is going to turn, and I think we deserve it. Ifwe keep pushing, something good is going to happen.”
Pitt has four games remaining, at home against Cincinnati on Wednesday andDePaul on March 9 and on the road against Syracuse on March 1 and West Virginiatwo days later.
“I think we’re going to take off as a team,” Young said. “That motivatesme more than these losses. These losses are going to be a stepping stone forus.”
Louisville, which shot 57.7 percent (30-of-52), fell behind 16-12 after Pittwent on a 9-0 run, but the Cardinals came back with its own 9-0 run to take a21-16 lead. It was Louisville’s 41st run of 8-0 or more in its 28 games.
Sosa’s effective shooting helped the Cardinals open the game’s biggest leadat eight points, at 44-36 early in the second half. He made six of eight shotsin the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Sosa, averaging 7.9 points, didn’t score in the second half until his3-pointer with 9:02 remaining keyed a 10-3 run that made it 59-51. DerrickCaracter added an important basket during the run, rebounding Sosa’s miss withone hand before scoring on a putback for a 54-51 lead. Sosa followed with his 3,and Padgett scored inside.
Pitt came back to get within three at 61-58 on Blair’s three-point play.Juan Palacios’ only five points of the game were a key after that, as he twicescored inside and added a free throw as the Cardinals took a 68-62 lead with2:20 to play.