NCAA West Regional Second Round : Oklahoma Defeats Pitt, 96-93; Iowa Escapes

Having been in a similar situation before, Oklahoma didn’t panic Sunday when it blew a 16-point lead against Pittsburgh.

The Sooners, neutralizing the nation’s No. 1 rebounding team on the boards, hung on to upset the 12th-ranked Panthers, 96-93, in a second-round game of the West Regional.

“I think our team has been in more late critical game situations than anyone in the nation,” said Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs, whose Sooners handed No. 1-ranked Nevada Las Vegas its only loss this season. “We struggled late in the season, but it’s starting to pay off now.”

Oklahoma (24-9) moves into the regional semifinals against Iowa (29-4) Friday night at Seattle.

Iowa beat Texas El Paso, 84-82, later Sunday.

Pitt, which trailed by 10 points at halftime, rallied to take an 87-84 lead with 3:34 left on a three-point play by Jerome Lane.

Oklahoma regained the lead on baskets by Tim McCalister and Rickey Grace, but a dunk by Lane put Pitt back in front, 89-88.

McCalister, who led the Sooners with 28 points, then hit a 12-foot jumper to start an 8-1 run by Oklahoma. It was 96-90 before Pitt’s Demetreus Gore made a three-point shot to cut the lead in half.

Pitt’s Charles Smith fouled Harvey Grant on the inbounds play and when Grant missed the front end of a one-and-one, Pitt rebounded and brought the ball up court with a chance to tie.

The rally fell short, however, when Gore missed a three-point shot from the corner and Lane missed a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer.

“I wasn’t worried when they got ahead,” McCalister said. “They made a tremendous comeback, but we felt we could still pull it out.”

Freshman Rod Brookin led the comeback for Pitt (25-8) and finished with 24 points. Smith had 23.

For Oklahoma, Stacey King scored 19 points and Grant had 18.

Each team had 45 rebounds, including 22 offensive rebounds by Oklahoma, which sent all five of its players to the boards on almost every shot.

“We made errors as far as blocking out defensively,” Smith said.

Iowa 84, Texas El Paso 82--Forwards Roy Marble and Kevin Gamble led the way as the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes rallied from a seven-point deficit in the last 7:55.

The score was tied 13 times until Marble’s two free throws put Iowa (24-9) ahead to stay at 76-74 with 3:11 remaining.

“With seven minutes left, I felt our defense broke down,” UTEP Coach Don Haskins said. “We hadn’t played much zone and we had to go back to the zone because we couldn’t match up with them. There was too much size difference.”

Gamble, who had 12 of his 14 points in the second half, hit a layup with 2:25 left to give the Hawkeyes a 78-74 lead. Marble had 13 points in the second half and finished with 28, making 9 of 14 shots and 10 of 11 free throws.

UTEP (25-7) closed the gap to 78-77 with 2:14 to go on a three-point play by senior center Mike Richmond, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.

Ed Horton’s layup with 1:10 remaining put Iowa up, 80-77, before Marble sank two more foul shots with 31 seconds left after the Miners had missed two three-point attempts.

Richmond’s free throws with nine seconds showing brought UTEP to within 82-79, but a dunk by senior forward Gerry Wright padded Iowa’s lead to 84-79 with five seconds left.

A three-point shot by UTEP’s Hernell (Jeep) Jackson at the buzzer accounted for the final score.

Jackson scored 16 points for the Miners, who won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

Sophomore guard B.J. Armstrong scored 16 for Iowa, 10 coming in the second half, including three three-point shots.