University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Villanova (Big East First Round)
Depleted Panthers Fall To Villanova In Big East Tourney
3/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2000
NEW YORK (AP) - Malik Allen had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Villanova pulled away from pesky Pittsburgh with an 11-2 second-half run in a 65-55 victory Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big East tournament.
The sixth-seeded Wildcats (19-11) advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals, where they will play third-seeded and 19th-ranked St. John's (21-7).
Playing just seven players, with six playing all but four minutes, the 12th-seeded Panthers (13-15) were within 43-42 with 8:30 left on two free throws by Ricardo Greer.
Jermaine Medley, who had all but three of his 15 points on 3-pointers, started the deciding rally with a 3 with 8:16 to play. Freshman Gary Buchanan, who finished with 18 points, had six in the rest of the run, including the three-point play that gave the Wildcats a 54-44 lead with 6:08 to play.
Villanova had only one more field goal the rest of the way, a turnaround by Allen with 2:49 to play, and went 9-for-12 from the free throw line.
Freshman Brandin Knight, the younger brother of Brevin Knight of the Cleveland Cavaliers, had 17 points for Pittsburgh, which lost its fourth straight Big East tournament game, including a 96-93 double-overtime loss to Villanova in 1998.
Greer had 14 points for the Panthers, while Jarrett Lockhart added 11 points and nine rebounds.
