TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Ramon's 3 Gives Pitt Win

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: February 8, 2008

PITTSBURGH - The free throws that were taken away badly hurt West Virginia. The wide-open shot by Pitt's Ronald Ramon that won the game bothered Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins a whole lot more.

Ramon barely beat the final horn with a game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing and No. 21 Pittsburgh rallied in the final minute to beat cold-shooting rival West Virginia 55-54 on Thursday night.

"I'd like to say we drew it up that way," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of a play that was supposed to end with Sam Young taking the final shot. "But Keith Benjamin drove with it and made his man guard him and he found the open man. Ronald made the shot, but Keith made the play."

Neither Ramon nor Benjamin knew how much time was left, and Benjamin said, "I had no choice but to throw it to Ronald. I had no idea what the clock was. I was hoping he could get it off."

Ramon did, and the Panthers (18-5, 6-4 Big East) got an important win that substantially helps their NCAA Tournament hopes and damages those of West Virginia (16-7, 5-5). The Mountaineers led 53-50 with a minute to play but couldn't find a way to finish it, mostly because of terrible foul shooting.

Alex Ruoff, an 85 percent free-throw shooter, missed one of two with 9 seconds remaining to prevent West Virginia from taking a three-point lead. That miss - the Mountaineers were only 7-for-17 from the line - proved costly because it meant Ramon's 3 won the game, rather than tying it and sending it to overtime.

Young and Keith Benjamin scored 10 each for Pitt, which beat the Mountaineers for the fourth time in a row and the 10th time in 13 games. DeJuan Blair had 12 rebounds, but was limited to seven points on 3-for-13 shooting.

Darris Nichols scored 16 and Joe Mazzulla had 15 for West Virginia.

XAVIER 70, SAINT LOUIS 68: Derrick Brown made a tip-in with 0.1 seconds to go, enabling No. 13 Xavier to barely avoid a second-half meltdown in a victory over Saint Louis.

Josh Duncan led a balanced attack with 15 points for Xavier (19-4, 7-1 Atlantic 10), which squandered all of a 16-point cushion against the persistent Billikens. Drew Lavender added 13 points and three others scored in double figures for Xavier, which has won five in a row and 11 of 12.

GEORGIA PLAYER SUSPENDED: Guard Billy Humphrey was suspended for three games Thursday after being arrested for underage drinking, his second arrest in less than three months.

The team's second-leading scorer was arrested a few hours after the Bulldogs lost their fourth straight game.

The 20-year-old junior will miss Georgia's game at Florida on Saturday, as well as home contests next week against South Carolina and Tennessee.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT