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Muskies Payback Pitt - Contemplate K-State In Salt Lake!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
3/22/2010
XU led 3-seed Pitt by 7 at the half Sunday (35-28) and I was feeling bullish. Pittsburgh had gotten the bulk of their offense from star Soph Ashton Gibbs (18 points). Not their usual balanced scoring!! Their dribble drives and post-up game were yielding very little. X had managed a dominating 16-0 run to fashion a 13 point lead with 2:52 to play before the break.
Brad Redford had returned to the land of the productive with a long three pointer and a gutsy drive and reverse lay-up (5 points). Chris Mack had used his bench cleverly preventing Terrell Holloway from collecting a third foul before the break. Dante Jackson had played with his usual NCAA passion and zest hitting 3 threes and pestering the Panthers constantly on defense.
Still there was unease. This was Pitt-probably the second best Big East team behind Syracuse. Their modus operandi under Jamie Dixon through the years includes second half rallies and buzzer beater wins. X had given up 6 points of their 13 point bulge late. Mark Lyons had made just 1 of 4 FTs. Last year in the Sweet 16 at Boston X had led by 8 over Pitt and lost 60-55. Too many thoughts!
At least the Panthers couldn't fall back on their three stars of 2009-LaVance Fields,Sam Young and DuJuan Blair. They're now playing for pay.
The second half begins and Pitt makes inroads but X retains the lead. The Muskies jet ahead 47-35 with 14:21 left on a lightening 7 point run (Jason Love a dunk for 2-Jordan Crawford-a long "3" and a driving finger roll plus 2 rebounds). Holloway is taking away Gibbs' space and jump shot and avoiding fouls.
Pitt adjusts and goes to the penetration dribble using Dixon and Wanamaker and instant offense Gilbert Brown. It's a 12 point Panther run. The Muskie lead dissapates to 1(50-49) with 8:49 left.
XU melted down no further. Pitt never climbed the mountain and never took the lead but there were tense moments and plenty of drama before Xavier salted away the 71-68 win.
Holloway was superb starting with his defense on Ashton Gibbs. Terrell scored 11 after halftime. His pounding drives off high ball screens scrambled the Pitt defense. He punctuated two drives with crazy pull-up fade-away jumpers leading to 3 point plays. He nailed all 5 of his free throws.
Crawford kept taking and making the BIG SHOTS. He wound up with 27 after dropping 28 on Minnesota. Pitt refused to fade into the sunset though. The shot clock and the 3 point shot make it hard to close out a good opponent.
Pittsburgh's Brown flipped in two three pointers after XU FTs to make it a one possession game(69-66) with 15.9 seconds left. The Muskies inbounded and the ball was knocked out at the Pitt bench.
One official called it Pittsburgh ball but the senior ref John Cahill (pronounced Cal-like the Pac 10 school) rushed in and overruled-giving the ball to XU. The replay proved him right. It was no gift. Cahill is the guy who failed to tag OSU's Greg Oden with an intentional foul against Justin Cage at Rupp Arena in the 2007 NCAAs. It cost XU the game. This time justice was served.
14.3 seconds left! X is still in the soup! Crawford has to inbound at the end of the court in front of the Pitt bench. He can't run the sideline. JC zips a lazer pass to Holloway tight against the sideline. Terrell is fouled and drains FTs. Pitt quickly cuts the lead to two again. Dante Jackson is fouled and misses both FTs.
Then X gets lucky!! Ashton Gibbs misses a tying "3" with about 1 second left. Pitt gets another chance with .4 seconds and Wanamaker misses a heave. Ball game over!!
Xavier advances to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year. Only Michigan State can equal that performance. Starting with the Muskies' Elite 8 run in 2004,XU is 11-5 in 6 NCAA appearances.
Kansas State awaits Thursday nite (9:37 EDT-CBS) in Salt Lake City. The Big 12 Wildcats are an early 5 point favorite. They played Saturday so K-State gets an extra day of rest.
I've tried to forget but KSU did pound X 71-56 at their Octagon of Doom-Bramlage Colesium in Manhattan, Kansas back on December 8,2009.
We'll have much more on the Xavier-Kansas State rematch later in the week.
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