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No. 16 Pittsburgh Needs OT To Top Louisville
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Nasir Robinson led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as 16th-ranked Pittsburgh got by Louisville, 82-77, in a Big East matchup at the Petersen Events Center.
Brad Wanamaker poured in 20 points and made two clutch free throws to send the game into overtime for Pittsburgh (15-2, 5-0 Big East), which has won eight straight games and was coming off impressive road wins over Syracuse, Cincinnati and Connecticut.
Ashton Gibbs ended with 10 points for the Panthers, who shot 50 percent from the floor.
Samardo Samuels went for a team-high 25 points, while Preston Knowles made 4- of-6 from three-point range and finished with 18 points off the bench for Louisville (12-6, 3-2), which dropped a 92-84 decision to fourth-ranked Villanova on Monday. The Cardinals connected on 48.2 percent of their shots, but made only 7-of-21 from beyond the arc.
With the game knotted at 69 at the end of regulation, the Panthers set the pace in the extra session when a Gibbs three and Jermaine Dixon's jumper put the hosts up five. Ahead by four, 78-74, a short time later, Knowles hit a three go get the Cardinals to within one with just under a half minute to play.
Gibbs' two at the line made it a three-point contest with 16 seconds left, and following a Jared Swopshire miss from beyond, Dixon's layup made it an 82-77 game and the Panthers held on.
In a closely contested opening 20 minutes, Knowles drained back-to-back three-pointers to put Louisville ahead 19-13 with 8:41 left in the half. The Panthers did manage to tie game the on two occasions, though the Cardinals got a corner three from Mike Marra in the final minute and a half and took a slim 30-27 into the locker room.
Trailing, 56-51, with nearly seven minutes left in the second half following a trey from Knowles, Pittsburgh quickly tied it with a Gibbs three-ball and a Robinson layup. The two teams traded basket-for-basket on their next two possessions, before Louisville went up 62-58 on an Edgar Sosa driving layup with 4:34 remaining.
Then with Pittsburgh down by four, 68-64, Wanamaker hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds left to make it a one-point contest. After Sosa made 1-of-2 from the line with 11 ticks to go for a two-point Louisville lead, Gibbs’ long- range three drew nothing but air. However, the Panthers were able to retain possession. Wanamaker was then fouled on the way to the hoop off the inbounds pass and calmly made both to deadlock the game at 69-all with 1.9 seconds to go.
Sosa’s three-quarter court heave hit the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded to end regulation.
Pittsburgh improved to 5-4 in the all-time series versus Louisville...The Panthers won the rebounding battle 32-21...Sosa finished with 10 points.
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