University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Central Connecticut State (NCAA Tournament)
Panthers Run Past Blue Devils, 71-54
3/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2002
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By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Already, this much is obvious - however deep Pittsburgh advances into the NCAA tournament, Brandin Knight will take them there.
Showing no effects of a painful tendon injury that left him limping a few days before, Knight scored 17 points and directed Pittsburgh runs in each half with some exceptional playmaking in a 71-54 South Regional victory Friday over Central Connecticut State.
Knight, a third-team All-American, put on a baseline-to-baseline show in front of his home fans, starting the offense with steals at one end before finishing them with beautiful passes or pullup jumpers at the other end.
"I call him the Einstein of point guards," Pitt coach Ben Howland said. "I coached a couple of good ones - John Stockton and Brian Shaw - and he's right in their league. Great players make great plays and when we needed him to, he made great plays."
Knight, also playing with a sore right little finger, got a scare with 2:55 to play, coming up limping after taking a tumble at the Central Connecticut end, but apparently wasn't hurt and finished with nine assists and five steals. He had been listed as day-to-day since injuring his quadriceps Saturday in Pitt's double-overtime loss to Connecticut in the Big East championship game.
"He's so tough, we knew he would play," Pitt's Donatas Zavackas said. "There was no doubt. He's one of the greatest point guards in the nation. If we're open, he'll find us."
Knight said "the leg is fine, and that's it" and pleaded to not be asked any more questions about it.
Playing an NCAA game inside the city limits for the first time in school history, third-seeded Pittsburgh (28-5) won its first tournament game in 11 years and made sure the scrappy Blue Devils (27-5) wouldn't win their first ever. The loss ended the Devils' 19-game winning streak.
It was tight for a while despite Pitt's 54-0 all-time record against Northeast Conference schools, with the Blue Devils getting to 43-40 with 9:34 remaining. Pittsburgh had led earlier by 13.
But Knight - playing every minute until being lifted with 27 seconds remaining - took over again, finding an open Julius Page for two of his key 3-pointers down the stretch while also making a pair of steals that set up baskets.
"I have a lot of confidence that if I can get the ball into their hands in good places, they can make plays," Knight said.
Just like that, in less than two minutes, Knight made it 51-40, and the Blue Devils didn't have another comeback left in them. Corsley Edwards, the Northeast Conference player of the year, scored 16, and Damian Battles had 15 in the Blue Devils' first loss since Dec. 30.
Page scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and a windmill dunk in the final minute, while Pitt's rugged Ontario Lett - one of the last players recruited in the nation last summer - added eight points and was a physical force inside.
Central Connecticut - which has an empty picture frame in its locker room for the first team in school history to win an NCAA game - got off to a fast start, taking a 9-3 lead before the predominantly Pitt crowd had filed into Mellon Arena.
It wasn't a home court edge for Pitt - the game was played on city rival Duquesne's court - but it clearly was a pro-Panthers crowd, and Knight quickly got them going.
He started an 11-0 run by feeding Lett down low, then hitting a driving layup and a 3-pointer on Pitt's next two possessions. Then, to finish the run, he fed to Donatas Zavackas and hit another layup to make it 18-11.
Knight, the Big East co-player of the year, was dazzling again to start the second half, with a steal and a layup, a dish-off to Chevy Troutman and a lob feed to Jaron Brown for a layup during an 8-0 run that opened Pitt's lead to 37-25.
It was Pitt's first NCAA victory since a first-round victory over Georgia in 1991, and the school's first under third-year coach Howland.
