The Life of a Men?s Basketball Team Manager
2/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 4 Men's Basketball Drops 66-64 Loss at No. 10 Notre Dame
2/9/2003
SOUTH BEND, Ind.- Notre Dame freshman Torin Francis scored the winning basket with just six-tenths of a second left to lift tenth-ranked Notre Dame over No. 4 Pittsburgh, 66-64, in a Big East West Division contest.
The loss dropped Pittsburgh to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big East while Notre Dame improved to 19-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big East.
Chris Thomas collected 24 points and eight assists for the Irish, who avenged a 72-55 loss to the Panthers in a January meeting between the two teams. Notre Dame, which improved to 13-0 at home, also received 14 points and six helpers from Matt Carroll.
Julius Page scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Panthers, who lost for just the second time in nine games. Chevon Troutman recorded 16 points and eight boards off the bench, but it wasn't enough as Pittsburgh lost in South Bend for the sixth consecutive time.
With just 28 seconds remaining, Brandin Knight made his only field goal of the game on a three-pointer to tie the game at 64-64 for the Panthers. On the ensuing possession, the Irish were holding the ball for the final shot. Thomas received the ball beyond the arc and drove to the net, but dished it down low in the paint to Francis, who went up with his left hand and layed the ball through the hoop.
The Panthers had one last chance with less then a second remaining, but never got off a final shot. At half court, Jordan Cornette knocked away the inbound pass intended for Knight. The Irish lost the battle on the glass, 33-26, but shot 52 percent from the field and only turned the ball over 10 times en route to their 15th win in their last 18 outings.
Notre Dame got off to a quick start by posting seven of the first nine points, however, Pittsburgh responded with 10 unanswered points and never trailed the rest of the half.
Jaron Brown capped off the run on a three-pointer with 13:41 left to put the Panthers ahead, 12-7. With just 4:42 to play before the intermission, a Thomas layup knotted the game at 31-31 for the Irish. But Pittsburgh ended the first half on a 10-2 burst and took a 41-33 advantage into the locker room. Thomas had 11 points and six assists at the break, but it wasn't enough as the Irish suffered their largest halftime deficit of the season. The Panthers led by as many as 10 early in the second half, but the Irish would battle back and took their first lead since the score was 9-7 in the early going.
With 10:01 remaining, Torrian Jones drained a free throw to complete an 18-7 run and put Notre Dame in front, 53-52. After the teams battled back-and-forth, Notre Dame scored seven straight points and grabbed a 60-56 lead. Thomas capped off the spurt on a layup with 4:54 left to play.
Pittsburgh is next in action when it hosts West Virginia Wednesday at the Petersen Events Center at 7 p.m. The game will be an ESPN Regional telecast but will not be televised locally.
GAME NOTES
*Pittsburgh outrebounded Notre Dame 33-26 including a 24-10 advantage in the first half. Pittsburgh has outrebounded its opponents in 16 of 19 games this season and is now 14-2 when outrebounding an opponent.
*Notre Dame has won its last six meetings with Pittsburgh in games played in South Bend. Pittsburgh drops to 21-25 in the 46-game series. Pitt falls to 7-14 in games played at Notre Dame.
*With the loss, Pittsburgh has now won 13 of last 15 Big East regular season games.
*Chevon Troutman finished the game 6-6 with 16 points. Over the last five games, Troutman is averaging 17.4 points and is shooting .816 (31-38) in those contests.
*Despite not practicing all week, Julius Page scored 19 points.
*With his eight assists on the evening, Brandin Knight moved into 12th place on the Big East?s all-time career assists list (in Big East games only). Syracuse?s Sherman Douglas holds the record of 426 assists when he played from 1985-89.
*Brandin Knight also set the Pittsburgh school record for most career 3-point field goal attempts. He now has 579 in his career and surpassed Sean Miller?s 574 set from 1987-92.
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