Pittsburgh Feels Right at Home in Finale

Pittsburgh couldn’t ask for a better ending to its remarkably good season, except for a return trip home for the NCAA tournament.

Julius Page scored 23 points as the No. 10 Panthers closed their half-century-old arena--and the best regular season in school history--with a 92-65 victory over rival West Virginia on Saturday night.

With more than 130 former players lining the sidelines in the final game at Fitzgerald Field House, Pittsburgh--25-4 overall and 13-3 in the Big East--fell behind by eight points early, quickly caught up, then pulled away 74% shooting and 58 points in the second half.

“We were fired up with all of the old players there,” Page said. “I had to calm down, because I was getting too fired up.”

Pittsburgh will take a seven-game winning streak into the Big East quarterfinals Thursday. Last year, the Panthers scored three consecutive upsets to reach the Big East championship game for the first time before losing to Boston College.

This season, the Panthers matched the school record for victories and was a school-best 15-1 at Fitzgerald, which opened in 1951. The 6,798-seat arena still will be used for other sports, but the basketball team will move into a $68-million arena where Pitt Stadium once stood.

“Not many people thought we could have the season we’ve had, so I think it was special,” said guard Brandin Knight, who had 15 points and 14 assists. “It’s good for us to be going into the tournament with some confidence. We need to approach the games the same way we did last year--everyone should stay loose, play ball and have fun.”

If the Panthers are among the top three seeded teams in their region when the NCAA pairings are announced March 10, they may be assigned to the subregional at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena on March 15-17. They likely will get such a seeding unless they lose their first Big East game.

West Virginia (8-20, 1-15) lost 20 games for the first time in school history.

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No. 11 Kentucky 70, No. 8 Florida 67--Gerald Fitch, playing for the first time in three games since being suspended for disciplinary reasons, made a decisive three-point shot with 33 seconds at Lexington, Ky., for the Wildcats (20-8, 10-6 in the Southeastern Conference). Kentucky secured a first-round bye in next week’s conference tournament as the Eastern Division’s No. 2 seed. Florida (21-7, 10-6) will have to play in the opening round.

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No. 12 Oklahoma State 66, Texas A&M; 51--The Cowboys (23-7, 10-6 in the Big 12) held the Aggies (9-21, 3-13) to one point in the final seven minutes at Stillwater, Okla.

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Tennessee 71, No. 16 Georgia 63--Marcus Haislip scored six of his 18 points in overtime for the Volunteers (14-15, 7-9 in the SEC) at Knoxville, Tenn. Jarvis Hayes had 28 points for Georgia (21-8, 10-6). The Bulldogs shared the Eastern Division championship with Kentucky and Florida but will be the No. 1-seeded team and get a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

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No. 18 Ohio State 84, Michigan 75--The Buckeyes (20-7, 11-5) joined Wisconsin and Indiana as regular-season Big Ten champions with the victory over the Wolverines (10-17, 5-11) at Ann Arbor, Mich. Illinois can also gain a share of the Big Ten title with a victory today at Minnesota.

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No. 20 Western Kentucky 82, North Texas 68--The Hilltoppers (26-3) extended the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 16 with the victory over the Mean Green (14-15) in the Sun Belt tournament quarterfinals at New Orleans.

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No. 22 Miami 83, Virginia Tech 77--Elton Tyler had a season-high 24 points at Miami and the Hurricanes (23-6, 10-6 in the Big East) tied a school record for most victories in a season. Virginia Tech (10-18, 4-12) made 11 of 23 three-point shots.

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No. 23 Connecticut 90, Seton Hall 78--Johnnie Selvie had 21 points, including the go-ahead free throw with 4:47 to play, for the Huskies (21-6, 13-3 Big East) at Storrs, Conn. The first seven field goals in the second half for Seton Hall (12-17, 5-11) all came on three-point shots.

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No. 24 Wake Forest 83, North Carolina State 71--Senior Darius Songaila scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds for the Demon Deacons (19-11, 9-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) at Winston-Salem, N.C. Julius Hodge had 21 points for North Carolina State (20-9, 9-7).

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No. 25 Indiana 79, Northwestern 67--Tom Coverdale scored 20 points and Jarrad Odle had 16 points and 10 rebounds at Bloomington, Ind., as the Hoosiers (19-10, 11-5) earned a share of their first Big Ten title since 1993. Northwestern (16-12, 7-9) has lost 28 games in a row at Assembly Hall.

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OTHER GAMES

The Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament remained undetermined as Ugonna Onyekwe scored 28 points for Penn (23-6, 10-3) in a 78-52 victory over Cornell (5-22, 2-12) at Ithaca, N.Y., and Yale (19-9, 11-3) was an 88-59 winner over Dartmouth (9-18, 2-12) at New Haven, Conn. Princeton (16-9, 11-2) plays at Penn on Tuesday night, with a Quaker victory forcing a three-way tie for the Ivy championship for the first time since the league was formed in 1956. Yale and Princeton would then play at a neutral site on a date to be determined, with the winner playing Penn for the automatic NCAA berth. ... Marc Bailey made two free throws with five seconds left to give Wyoming (20-7, 11-3 in the Mountain West) a 57-56 victory over Utah (20-7, 1-4) at Laramie, Wyo., and its first outright conference regular-season championship in 20 years.

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TOURNAMENTS

Atlantic Sun--Raheim Brown had 19 points and eight rebounds and Florida Atlantic (19-11) beat Georgia State, 76-75, in the final at Orlando, Fla., and earned its first trip to the NCAA tournament. Regular-season champion Georgia State (20-10) had a chance to win, but Lamont McIntosh’s full-speed leaner in the lane rimmed out as time ran out.

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Big South--Winthrop (19-11) limited High Point of North Carolina (11-19) to 32% in a 70-48 victory in the final at Roanoke, Va. Winthrop, located in Rock Hill, S.C., will make its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

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Ohio Valley--Justin Burdine scored 24 points, including a jumper in the lane with 9.1 seconds left that was decisive for Murray State (19-12) in a 70-69 victory over Tennessee Tech. (24-6) in the final at Louisville, Ky.

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