Pitt beats Texas to win 2K Sports Classic title
NEW YORK — Pittsburgh has grown accustomed to celebrating at Madison Square Garden. It doesn’t matter whether it’s late November or early March.
Ashton Gibbs scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half, and the Panthers hung on to beat Texas 68-66 on Friday night, adding the 2K Sports Classic title to the two recent Big East tournament championships they won at the iconic arena.
“It’s great to do it in front of my home crowd, in New York — it’s where I dreamed to play my whole life,” said Gibbs, a junior from nearby Scotch Plains, N.J. “This is like a second home for us. We have a lot of guys from the metropolitan area. It’s great for them.”
It was even better for them that Gibbs found his shooting stroke in the second half.
His 3-pointer with 1:24 left gave Pittsburgh (5-0) a 66-62 lead, and he calmly stepped to the foul line with 23.1 seconds remaining and hit two free throws to make it 68-64.
Jordan Hamilton’s tip-in moments later made it 68-66, and Travon Woodall missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Texas (3-1) the final shot. But freshman guard Cory Joseph drove the baseline and could only manage an off-balance heave that had no chance of going in, and the Panthers began to celebrate a title in the tournament benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
Hamilton finished with a career-high 28 points for Texas, which still made quite a statement by knocking off No. 13 Illinois in the semifinals and playing Pittsburgh down to the wire.
The Illini rebounded to beat Maryland 80-76 in the third-place game Friday night.
J’Covan Brown added 14 points and freshman Tristan Thompson had 11 for Texas, which is only beginning to wade into its meat-grinder of a schedule. The Longhorns will play eight opponents ranked in the Top 25 during the regular season, including No. 2 Michigan State on Dec. 22.
The Panthers have won 14 of their last 19 games at the Garden, most of them coming in their conference tournament, where they’ve been to the finals seven of the past 10 years. Pitt is 26-11 in the building since 2000, while coach Jaime Dixon improved to 18-9.
