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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Already, this much is obvious -- however deep
Pittsburgh advances into the NCAA tournament, Brandin Knight will
take them there.
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The big question for Pittsburgh was the status of Brandin Knight. Well, there was no question he was healthy. Knight played 39 minutes and came through with 17 points and nine assists. Pittsburgh's front line also came through with solid performances from Donatas Zavackas and Ontario Lett who went 4 for 5 and 4 for 6 on the floor, respectively. Lett has really been developing with a solid performance in the finals of the Big East tournament. Also impressive was Julius Page who scored 16 points including a SLAM BAM JAM at the end of the game to ice it for Pitt.
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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. | 
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