Pitt turns back UNC-Asheville
WASHINGTON — There were about 10 minutes left to play Thursday at the Verizon Center, and top-seeded Pittsburgh had yet to shake the 16th seed, North Carolina-Asheville, in a second-round NCAA tournament game in the Southeast Regional.
By the time three minutes went by, however, the Panthers had pulled away.
N.C.-Asheville came ready to play against Pitt, but all the Bulldogs got for their effort was a 74-51 defeat that ended the Big South champions’ season.
Pitt had a five-point edge at halftime against a Bulldogs squad that showed no signs of being intimidated by its Big East Conference opponent, although the physical Panthers outrebounded their foes by 44-24.
“You can’t lose a rebounding differential by that much and stay in the game,” Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said.
Playing in the NCAAs for the 10th year in a row, Pith (28-5) can advance to the Sweet 16 for the sixth time since 2002 by eliminating Butler (24-9) Saturday. Those Bulldogs advanced with a 60-58 win over Old Dominion that was decided on a layup at the buzzer by forward Matt Howard.
“When I saw (Butler), they were as physical a team as we’ll play all year,” said Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon, who received 12 points from Nasir Robinson. “Very physical, very aggressive on the ball, and we have to be prepared for a physical defense from them.”
Asheville (20-14) got as close as three points at the beginning of the second half. But with Panthers guard Ashton Gibbs scoring 20 of his game-high 26 points during the last 20 minutes, Pitt gradually pulled away before applying the hammer.
“I just tried to move without the ball, and my teammates did a great job of passing me the ball to open spots,” said Gibbs, who nailed 6 of 9 3-point attempts. “I just tried to take advantage of it and knock it down.”
The Panthers, up by 50-39 with 10 minutes, 36 seconds remaining, were ahead by 56-39 at the 8:25 mark. And when Brad Wanamaker left the game for good with 4:17 to go, his team had a 65-45 advantage.
“It’s always a little tough getting that first one down,” said Wanamaker, who chipped in with six points and three assists. “You come out a little tight. But as the game went on, we loosened up and got after it and played our game.”
After Pittsburgh ran off nine straight points to open a 23-11 lead with 7:44 remaining in the first half, Asheville did not panic. The Bulldogs kept plugging and cut the deficit to 30-25 by the break.
“We had a nice lead and made some mistakes and turnovers to let them back in it,” Dixon said. “In the second half, we pulled away with solid execution and rebounding and defense throughout.”
Butler 60, Old Dominion 58
On the winning play, the Bulldogs’ Shawn Vanzant drove to the baseline, and when he turned to face the basket, he lost his balance and wound up throwing the ball toward the hoop as he fell on his back. Teammate Andrew Smith managed to tip the ball, and Howard was alone under the basket to finish the play and give Butler its 10th straight victory.
Howard and Shelvin Mack each scored 15 points for Butler. Frank Hassell paced Old Dominion (27-7) with 20 points.
