University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Syracuse (BIG EAST Tournament)
Pittsburgh Upsets No. 17 Syracuse In OT
3/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2001
Postgame Audio
Coach Howland | I. Hawkins | B. Knight
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK - Isaac Hawkins' free throw with three seconds left in overtime gave Pittsburgh a 55-54 victory over No. 17 Syracuse on Friday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.
Hawkins, who entered the game shooting better from the field than the foul line, lifted the Panthers (18-12) into their first championship game Saturday night against No. 10 Boston College, which beat Seton Hall 75-48 in an earlier semifinal.
It will be the second time a team has ever played four games in the tournament - Connecticut did it last year, losing to St. John's in the final game.
It also is the second time a team with a losing conference record has reached the title game - the Panthers went 7-9 in the league this season. Syracuse was 6-8 in 1981 when it beat Villanova in triple overtime to win the championship.
Pittsburgh did not play Boston College (25-4), which had an opening-round bye, during the regular season.
Syracuse (24-8), which beat Connecticut and Providence in its first two games, had to play the final 24 minutes of regulation and the overtime without Preston Shumpert, its leading scorer (19.8 points) and second-leading rebounder (6.0).
Shumpert was poked in the right eye late in the first half and sustained a corneal abrasion. He was given eye drops, but his vision remained blurry and he returned to the bench early in the second half with a huge patch over the eye. He finished with nine points after scoring 45 in the first two tournament games.
Hawkins, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, gave the Panthers a 50-48 lead with a putback with 1:34 left in regulation.
Allen Griffin, who led the Orangemen with 19 points, made two free throws with 1:11 left to tie it and each team misfired on two possession at the end of regulation.
Griffin hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to give Syracuse a 54-51 lead, but Ricardo Greer, who had 12 points, tied it with a 3 with 2:49 to play.
Billy Celuck, Syracuse's 7-footer playing with a broken shooting hand, missed a long jumper with 29 seconds left. After a timeout, Pittsburgh spread the floor and Brandin Knight penetrated the 2-3 zone and found Hawkins down low where he was fouled by Damone Brown.
Hawkins, who entered shooting 54 percent from the field and 52 percent from the line, missed the first, making him 4-for-6 from the stripe for the game. After a Syracuse timeout, he swished the second.
Griffin's long pass was batted around in a scramble on the other side of midcourt by Greer, Knight and Brown and went out of bounds as the buzzer sounded.
Donatas Zavackas had 14 points, all but two on 3-pointers, for the Panthers, who beat Miami and No. 19 Notre Dame in the first two games. Knight had nine assists.
Brown had 12 points for Syracuse, which was trying to get career victory No. 600 for coach Jim Boeheim.
