University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Miami (BIG EAST Championship)
No. 7 Panthers Prevail; Defeat No. 20 Miami, 76-71
3/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2002
By HAL BOCK
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK - It's just two points, just another basket. Yet everytime Brandin Knight and Julius Page connected on an alley-oop pass and dunk, it seemed worth a lot more to No. 7 Pittsburgh.
Knight and Page took over down the stretch and led the Panthers to their second straight Big East tournament championship game by beating No. 20 Miami 76-71 on Friday night.
Knight scored 20 points and tied the tournament record with 14 assists, a couple of them spectacular connections with Page, who had 16 and shut out Miami's leading scorer Darius Rice, who was held without a point for the first time this season.
As thorough as Page's defensive job was, those alley-oop baskets seemed to energize the Panthers (27-4), who lost last year's title game to Boston College.
"Comes with the game," Page said. "First time, it was more transition. He saw me running on the wing. I converted on the dunk. Second time, it was more of a set play. He makes the good passes and I just finish."
Knight said there was a little bit of luck involved.
"I told him I didn't even know he was going to be there," the Pitt point guard said. "I just threw it and I was hoping that he was going to catch it. When I saw him go up, I saw his head. I was like, `He's got it. He's definitely got it."'
Knight is the eyes and ears of this gritty Pitt team, which plays defense with passion and purpose and is fundamentally sound.
"He's so smart," coach Ben Howland said. "His feel and understanding of the game and understanding the tempo. You can't say enough about Brandin."
Knight's 14 assists matched the tournament record set by Mark Jackson for St. John's and Pearl Washington for Syracuse, both in 1986. Knight also had 14 assists against West Virginia this season.
His savvy down the stretch was critical for Pitt.
Miami (24-7), which got a career-high 30 points from Elton Tyler, led 58-54, and Pitt was in trouble when big man Ontario Lett was charged with his fourth personal foul with 8:06 to play. But Knight and Page would not let the Panthers fall any further behind.
Page hit a pair of 3-pointers and saved the ball in a scramble, finding Lett for a basket that put Pitt in front at 61-60. Two straight baskets by Jaron Brown opened the lead to 68-62. Then Knight, the conference co-player of the year, scored and hit Page with one of those alley-oop passes for another basket.
Pitt held a nine-point lead at 74-65, but Miami wasn't done. A basket and free throw by Tyler and a 3-pointer by John Salmons made it 74-71, and the Hurricanes had the ball with 24 seconds to play.
But Salmon's pass glanced off Tyler's hands under the basket, and Page added a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
"We couldn't stop them when we had to," Miami coach Perry Clark said. "Whenever Pitt needed a play, offense or defense, they got it. We tried to stop Knight's penetration and we were so focused on him we lost sight of the others."
Marcus Barnes, playing with his right calf taped, scored 20 points, and Salmons had 10 for Miami. But Rice, averaging 15.4 points, missed all five of his shots, including four from 3-point range and sat out the final minutes.
"We stayed with the guys who were hot," Clark said. "It was my decision."
"It's just great defense," Howland said. "I thought Julius did a great job sticking to him like fly paper. It showed heart and character to play that defense."
Lett finished with 13 points, and Brown had 10 for Pitt.
