TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Fields Propels Pitt To Victory

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

Updated: 03/27/2009 12:46 am

BOSTON - Levance Fields pointed Pittsburgh in the right direction just in time - as usual.

For the second straight game, the orchestrator of the offense took the big shots himself, hitting a 3-pointer with 50.9 seconds left, then scoring off his steal as the top-seeded Panthers reached the region finals for the first time in 35 years with a 60-55 win over Xavier on Thursday night.

One more win and they'll be headed to Detroit for the Final Four.

"We came in expecting to win two games," Fields said before acknowledging the obvious: "It was dramatic."

The star point guard provided the drama in Pitt's previous win, 84-76 over Oklahoma State. That game was tied at 74 with 2:42 left. Then Fields made a layup and a 3-pointer and the Panthers never trailed after that.

Pitt knows the late-game strategy by now.

"Give Levance the ball," Big East co-player of the year DeJuan Blair said with a laugh.

The last time Pitt was in a region final was in 1974 when it lost 100-72 to eventual national champion North Carolina State, led by David Thompson.

"It definitely was big for the players, the coaches and the city," said Sam Young, who led Pitt with 19 points. "It's something we've been waiting for, for a long time."

Pitt (31-4) trailed 54-52 before Fields hit his shot. He then took the ball from B.J. Raymond and went in for a layup with 23.9 seconds to go.

Fields scored 14 points, and Blair had 10 points and 17 rebounds in the East semifinal victory. The Panthers overcame an eight-point halftime deficit.

"We're a confident group," Fields said. "We haven't played our best basketball, but the good thing is we've found a way to make plays when we've needed them."

Fourth-seeded Xavier (27-8) was led by Raymond with 15 points and Derrick Brown with 14.

"I thought the shot Levance Fields hit is all about the poise of senior point guards," said Xavier coach Sean Miller, who knows something about that.

He was a star point guard at Pitt from 1987-92 and is second in school history in assists.

Panthers coach Jamie Dixon made it to the round of eight for the first time in his six years on the bench after losing in his other two trips to the round of 16. Xavier fell short in its bid for a third berth in the region finals in six years.

"They pushed us around in the first half, but we responded in the second half like we usually do," Dixon said. "Like I've said before, I never get tired of seeing Levance take big shots. He's made them year after year."

Villanova Routs Duke, 77-54

Dante Cunningham scored 14 points with 11 rebounds and third-seeded Villanova beat Duke for the first time in more than 50 years, taking advantage of the Blue Devils' poor shooting to win 77-54 and advance to the region final.

The Wildcats (29-7) will play Big East rival Pittsburgh, the top seed in the East, on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.

Duke (30-7), which spent a week at No. 1 in the nation earlier this season, failed to reach the round of eight for the fifth consecutive year.

Kyle Singler scored 15 and Jon Scheyer had 13 for the second-seeded Blue Devils. But Scheyer and Gerald Henderson combined to make just four of 32 attempts as Duke shot a season-low 26.7 percent from the floor.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT