Hoyas Rejected By Pitt In Final
Georgetown Dominated On Boards by Panthers: Pitt 74, Georgetown 65

By Camille Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 16, 2008

NEW YORK, March 15 -- When the final buzzer sounded on seventh-seeded Pittsburgh's 74-65 victory over top-seeded Georgetown in the Big East tournament final Saturday night, Panthers guard Levance Fields joyfully tossed the ball high into the air. The rest of the Panthers swarmed onto the court at Madison Square Garden, as the Hoyas trudged to their locker room.

It had been a while since the Hoyas had felt this way, in this event, inside this arena. Georgetown had won its past five Big East tournament games, including three last season to claim the title. But a lackluster performance -- particularly on the boards -- kept the Hoyas from becoming the first team to sweep the conference regular season and tournament titles in back-to-back years since Connecticut in 1998-99.

"We just didn't really play like the way we are used to playing," senior guard Jonathan Wallace said.

Georgetown (27-5) has won more Big East tournament titles than any other program (seven), but no team has had a run of success like Pittsburgh (26-9), which was making its third straight championship game appearance, and its seventh in eight years. The Panthers, however, had only one title to show for it (2003).

They earned their second with an impressive four-day run: Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, Louisville (ranked 13th), Marquette (25th) and Georgetown (ninth) to become only the second team in conference history to win four straight games to claim the title. It was a sweet reward for a team that lost one starter (Mike Cook) to a season-ending knee injury in December, and another starter (Fields) for 12 games because of a broken foot.

Pittsburgh junior forward Sam Young, a two-time All-Met from Friendly, won the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the event's most outstanding player after scoring 16 points in the final and 80 over the four games (one shy of Connecticut guard Ben Gordon's record). Fields, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert (Georgetown Prep), guard Jessie Sapp (National Christian), West Virginia forward Joe Alexander (Linganore) and Marquette guard Jerel McNeal were named to the all-tournament team.

This was a rematch of last year's final, in which Georgetown dispatched the Panthers, 65-42, with cruel efficiency. The Hoyas' play in the first two games of this year's tournament -- double-digit wins over Villanova and West Virginia -- was essentially a continuation of that.

But the Hoyas rarely looked like that team against Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Coach John Thompson III acknowledged that his team was outhustled at times, particularly when it came to rebounding. The Panthers, just as they did in their regular season win over Georgetown (69-60 on Jan. 14), were dominant on the offensive glass (19 rebounds) and held a 41-29 edge overall. Forward DeJuan Blair, a strong 6-foot-7 freshman who was the conference's co-rookie of the year, had 10 rebounds (seven offensive), and consistently muscled the Hoyas out of the way.

"He's a big body down low, really active," said Wallace, who had 12 points and five assists. "We were stopping their initial sets and plays, but second-chance points is what kept them ahead."

The Hoyas' outside shooting -- they made five of their first nine three-point attempts, including a 40-foot heave from Wallace just before the shot clock expired -- helped them build a 22-16 lead over the opening 11 minutes 30 seconds. But they scored only six points the rest of the way; the only two times that Hibbert (17 points) got the ball inside, he scored easily against 6-8 Tyrell Biggs. Pittsburgh led, 31-28, at halftime.

The Panthers never relinquished their lead, as Georgetown couldn't string together enough solid possessions or make enough stops to make a run. The Hoyas -- who made a school-record 17 three-pointers in the quarterfinals against Villanova -- shot two three-pointers that bounced off the side of the backboard. Overall, they were 8 of 24 from behind the arc.

A handful of plays illustrated Georgetown's struggles. With less than 7 1/2 minutes to play, for instance, Young missed the second half of a one-and-one, but Blair got the rebound and missed a shot, Keith Benjamin got the rebound and missed a shot, and then Blair got another rebound, converted and was fouled -- the fifth on sophomore DaJuan Summers (nine points). Blair made the free throw, and the Panthers led, 53-42.

After Georgetown cut the lead to 56-49 on a three-point play from Hibbert, the Hoyas forced a turnover, and Wallace -- the Hoyas' best three-point shooter -- got an open look on the right side, but his three-pointer bounced off the rim. At the other end, Georgetown forward Vernon Macklin hustled to deflect the ball into Pittsburgh's back court, but the Hoyas couldn't run it down. The Panthers kept possession, and senior Ronald Ramon nailed a three to put Pittsburgh up, 59-49, with 3:44 to play.

Last year, the Hoyas used this tournament as a springboard into the NCAA's, where they advanced to the Final Four. This year, they will have to regroup. The locker room was quiet and the players were somber after the game; Patrick Ewing Jr. and Tyler Crawford, two of Georgetown's senior captains, said that they didn't feel like talking. But on Sunday afternoon, they will gather inside a campus dining hall to watch the NCAA selection show, and they are still likely to receive a No. 2 seed.

"We're not a group that feels sorry for ourselves," Thompson said. "We have to grow. We have to get better. As I said all year, we have to be better next week than we are this week. So you don't want to ruin the third part of the year because you're feeling sorry for yourself about losing tonight. We have to move on."