Pitt is all good… still

The Pittsburgh Panthers have now knocked Louisville out of three straight conference tournaments and will advance to play, No. 6 seed, Marquette on Friday night. How do you like dem big apples?

Their only meeting earlier this season was a back-and-forth affair that ended after Padgett and Andre McGee each made a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to seal a 75-73 victory at Pittsburgh.

This time it was no different.

Panther player Sam Young had 21 points, 12 rebounds and hit a pair of free throws with less than a minute left in overtime to help Pittsburgh beat the No. 13 Cardinals 76-69 Thursday night and advance to the tournament semifinals. DeJuan Blair added 16 points and eight boards. The Panthers are now 4-0 at Madison Square Garden this season, and 21-8 dating to the 2001-02 season.

Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino told the AP, “Give them credit for their defense,” Pitino said. He is now a dismal 3-8 in his career against Pittsburgh and 1-3 in the conference tournament since joining the Big East, “Our guys did a good job of fighting back to get into overtime. Sometimes it’s just about making shots. It’s a simple explanation,” he said. “But you’ve got to give Pitt credit. Their defense had a lot to do with it.”

The two teams swapped the lead 10 times and were tied eight times in the first half of this one, before a late burst gave Louisville a 33-30 lead at the break.

The Panthers used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to build a 51-43 advantage, but Blair picked up his fourth foul a couple minutes later and Louisville closed in. Terrence Williams’ basket with 4:44 to go gave the Cardinals a 56-55 lead, and the teams matched baskets through the end of regulation.

Young’s basket with 1:50 left in regulation gave Pittsburgh a 62-60 lead. After a timeout, the Panthers held for the last shot—but may have held too long. Levance Fields made a move to the basket with just over 5 seconds left and got caught in the corner, where he heaved up a contested shot at the buzzer that clanked harmlessly off the rim.

Seventh-seeded Pittsburgh (24-9) outscored Louisville 12-2 to start the overtime, and its 74-64 lead with 30.9 seconds left was its biggest of the game.

“It was a great win for us,” coach Jaime Dixon told the AP. “We battled through some things. We had foul trouble early, got performances from everybody. … And like I said, our defense has been getting better and better.”

Fields made up for the gaffe with six of his 13 points in overtime. Backcourt mate Ronald Ramon added four of his 13 in the extra session, including a runner in the lane off a loose ball that made it 70-64 with 1:08 left.

“We battled through against a very good team,” Dixon told the AP. “I’m so proud of these guys, every one of them. They just battled. That’s really the best way to sum it up.”