BUFFALO, N.Y. -VCU’s bid for the Sweet 16 came up short Saturday night at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y. as the Rams fell to the Pittsburg Panthers 84-79 in overtime.
The first half was one to forget for the Rams. The Panthers were led by the inside presence of seven-foot center Aaron Gray.
“We had a difficult time defending Grey in the low post,” said VCU head coach Anthony Grant. Every time Gray touched the ball he impacted the game. When Gray was double teamed it left the perimeter open for Pitt’s guards Antonio Graves and Ronald Ramon. When Gray wasn’t double teamed, he would post up the VCU defenders and get easy baskets. This ineffective defense resulted in a 41-26 half time lead for Pitt.
The Score (OT)
VCU 79
PITTSBURGH 84
It was a tale of two halves, however, for VCU. After trading baskets with Pitt for the first nine minutes of the second half, VCU’s full-court pressure defense took control the game. VCU forced 11 turnovers in the final 11 minutes and reduced the lead to three points with 2:07 left.
On the subsequent inbound pass Eric Maynor (Fayetteville,N.C./Westover) stole the ball and passed it to B.A. Walker, (Onancock, Va./Nandua), who drained a three pointer to tie the game at 69. After the Rams erased a 16-point deficit they took the lead for a brief moment, but Pitt knotted the game back up and had a chance to win when Jesse Pellot-Rosa (Richmond, Va./George Wythe) fouled Pitt’s Levance Fields with two seconds left. Fields could not covert on either shot and the game went to over time.
“After the two free throws, my teammates and coach came to me and told me to put it behind me,” said Fields.
VCU (28-7): Fameni 2, Anderson 6, Maynor 14, Walker 20, Pellot-Rosa 20, Coward 0, Ndongo 3, Shuler 12, Roland 0, Gwynn 2. Totals: 29 14-17 79. 3-pointers: Walker 3, Pellot-Rosa 2, Shuler 2.
Pittsburgh (29-7): Kendall 8, Gray 14, Fields 10, Graves 9, Cook 12, Benjamin 4, Ramon 12, Biggs 0, Young 15. Totals: 31 16-27 84. 3-pointers: Fields 2, Ramon 2, Graves, Cook.
Fields did exactly that in the over time period. Fields and Graves hit two three pointers in the extra period and gave Pitt a seven point lead that turned out to be insurmountable. Walker did have a chance to tie the game at 82 with 11 seconds left, but his three pointer bounced off the rim and sealed the victory for the Panthers.
“We just ran out of time,” said Walker.
Pitt’s win puts them into the Sweet 16 in a match up against No. 2 seed UCLA next weekend in San Jose, Calif. VCU ends the season with a school record 28 wins including their first-round win over the Duke Blue Devils.