University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
at Marquette
Golden Eagles Slip Past No. 9 Panthers, 84-82
2/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2006
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Steve Novak scored 27 points and hit five 3-poiners to lead Marquette to its second straight victory over a Top 25 team with an 84-82 upset of No. 9 Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Dominic James had 16 points and Wesley Matthews added 13 to give the Golden Eagles (18-8, 8-5 Big East) another win over a quality opponent and snap the Panthers' three-game winning streak.
But no victory has been more dramatic for the Golden Eagles.
Pittsburgh (20-4, 9-4) nearly overcame a 10-point second half deficit in the final minutes behind Carl Krauser, who finished with 18 points and scored five straight to cut Marquette's lead to 78-77 with 3 minutes to go.
Novak and Ronald Ramon exchanged 3-pointers with 1:51 remaining. Marquette missed two shots on its next possession, and Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray was fouled with 24.7 seconds left.
The 64 percent free throw shooter missed both attempts to tie, and the Panthers were forced to foul Novak, a 98.5 percent free throw shooter. Novak made both to make it 83-80 with 11.2 left.
Ramon got a good look at the basket, but missed a 3 and Gray's rebound and putback cut it to 83-82 with 0.2 seconds remaining.
Marquette's Joe Chapman hit one free throw and missed the second to end the game.
Pittsburgh never found a rhythm in trying to get physical with Marquette in front of 19,007, the largest home crowd ever to see a Golden Eagles game.
Marquette lost 77-71 in Pittsburgh last month, and the game again became rough in the second half.
In one sequence, James fouled Ramon hard, grabbing him around the head with his arm, and Gray drew a technical foul moments later when he elbowed Ousmane Barro before an inbounds play.
Gray, who had 20 rebounds against Marquette in the first game, picked up his fourth foul with 7:54 left and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Marquette had pushed the lead to 10 when Dan Fitzgerald tipped in a miss by Novak and hit a 3-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession to make it 68-58 with 9:46 remaining.
The Golden Eagles improved to 3-0 at home against Top 25 opponents - with a 94-79 win over then-No. 2 Connecticut in their Big East debut on Jan. 3, and Thursday night's 57-51 victory against No. 17 Georgetown.
Most of the highlights have been by the 6-foot-11 Novak, who set the single season mark for 3-pointers at Marquette on Thursday night.
The senior sharpshooter has 57 3s in Big East play with three conference games left, six behind the record of 63 held by Connecticut's Ray Allen in 1995-96.
