Posted: February 7th, 2008 - by: Andy Brown

Ramon’s 3 at the buzzer gives Pitt the win!

Being a Mountaineer fan is cruel isn’t it?

In the opening telecast of the Backyard Brawl, televised nationally on ESPN, the idiots from the Pitt student section, affectionately known as the Zoo, showed a sign that said simply “13-9″. Bad memories. As I type this report they’ll constantly remind us of another score.

“55-54″

West Virginia had a chance to win at the Peterson, and would have made WVU the first team to beat Pitt there twice. Alex Ruoff had a chance to make two foul shots to give the Eers a cushion at 55-52 with 9 seconds left. In true Mountie fashion he missed the first but made the second. Down the floor Pitt goes. WVU tried their best defensively to guard sharp-shooter Ronald Ramon. Ramon dished the ball to Keith Benjamin who tried to dribble to the hoop. When Wellington Smith went to cover Benji that left Ramon wide open. Benji kicked the ball out to Ramon on the right wing and sank the dagger three as the buzzer sounded.

When he made it I crouched down in a fetal position head first into the carpet. It’s like your closest relative died last December and then their significant other dies tonight. How in the hell are the Mounties ever going to recover from this?

The Mountaineers, who broke out those brand spankin’ new gold jerseys earlier than expected, started out ice cold missing 9 of the first 10 shots. That didn’t affect them however as Pitt’s star player Sam Young was called for 2 personal fouls in the first 4 minutes of the game. The Eers drove to the hoop at will early and found themselves leading by 13-9. 13-9???????????? Irony can be very eerie. But Joe Alexander’s flaky play and Smith being in foul trouble aided in the Panthers putting on a tear by scoring 10 consecutive points capped off by DeJuan Blair steal at mid-court and then the uncontested jam.

But the defense, led once again by Cam Thoroughman, and backup point guard Joe Mazzulla would be the ones that kept the Mounties right back in the game in the first half. He scored 8 points including 2 net-torching 3’s from the top of the key to tie the game at 22. During that stretch Pitt was held without a field goal in a span of 6 minutes and 13 seconds. As dreadful as they played offensively (the WVU starting lineup shot 4 of 19 in the first half) the Mountaineers were up by one at halftime 27-26.

After WVU let Gilbert Brown dribble and drive for the deuce they finally woke up and played some good offensive basketball. After the Smalligan miss from point-blank range he got back the rebound and dished it out to The Rainmaker to make the three. On the next possession in transition, Ruoff dished off a pass to the wing and found Darris Nicholas WIDE OPEN for the three. That shut The Zoo right up as the Eers at the time got to their biggest lead of the game at 35-28 with 18 minutes left in the game.

Unfortunately, sloppy play inside and out offensively got Pittsburgh right back in it as they countered with their own 8-0 run to retake the lead at 36-35. Alexander then stepped up with a trey followed by a put back jam to lead 40-36 with 12:11 left in regulation. Both teams hung tough as Mazz made a rainbow three to take a 45-42 lead. Then, Mountie-slayer Sam Young knocked down his second three of the half to tie the game at 45.

Now the next sequence of events gave the Eers a severe disadvantage.

Blair knocked down Nichols on the rebound but Nichols was called for the foul. How? Next, when Tyrell Biggs missed his two free throws Blair was called for the foul on the rebound. No harm done since Alexander made the free throws, right? WRONG!!!!! The officials went to the scorers table check the replay and they reversed the two made foul shots. Apparently, the replay shows that Blair held Thoroughman on the rebound. This is a one-plus-one opportunity squandered.

Cam missed the free throw and Pitt rebounds.

On Pitt’s next possession Brad Wanamaker makes the lay-up as they took a commanding lead at 50-45. Those Big East officials never cease to amaze and disappoint me.

But the Eers never gave up. Mazz took charge as he scored on a driving lay-up to cut the lead to two. Blair then missed the one-on-one. The following possession with time on the shot clock running out Nicholas pulled up and banked in the three to take a 51-50 lead with just over 2 minutes left. Then Wellington made a nice spike block to give the ball back to the Eers. On the next possession, Nichols calmly drained a 17-footer to give the Eers a 53-50 lead. Then Benjamin scored off a nice touch pass from Blair to cut the lead back to one. Time winding down Blair misses badly on the lay-up and WVU got the rebound and the foul. You know, I can’t bring myself to describe it the second time. It hurts so freakin’ bad.

The positives.

  • Nichols and Mazz stepped up to score 16 and 15 respectively.
  • Thoroughoman played some great D. He is starting to remind me of Brent Solheim in those glory Sweet 16 days.

Now the negative.

  • Da’Sean Butler and Alexander combined to shoot 3 for 20 from the field and 3 of 8 from the line.
  • Ruoff scored five points and has struggled to contribute for the third straight game.
  • This may cost us a shot at the Big Dance.
  • Eers were 7 of 17 foul shooting.

Yuk it up Pitt fans. March 3rd is the rematch and I’d advised you not to come to Motown. You may not make it out alive.

Damn I need a beer.

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