Rebounding Costs Pitt in Battle for ACC Title with Miami
MIAMI -- The Pitt Panthers didn't make things easy on themselves. In falling on the road to Notre Dame earlier in the week, they fumbled a golden opportunity to clinch a share of the ACC regular season title and the top seed in next week's conference tournament.
Facing a hostile environment, No. 25 Pitt and No. 16 Miami played a game for the ages. Things looked bleak early and often but the Panthers found just enough offense to stay close. Still, their spirited attempts to come back were drowned by Miami's suffocating effort on the boards. A -22 margin in rebounding and -18 margin in second-chance points proved too much to overcome as Pitt fell, 78-76
These two fantastic offenses got off to hot starts. The Panthers were unable to get a handle on the Hurricanes, who made four of their first six attempts from the field. Miami was able to find easy looks from close range, scoring their first eight points in the paint.
With Maimi holding a 12-8 lead after the first media timeout, Nike Sibande cleared Bensley Joseph and flew in for a wide-open putback layup. After the bucket, he tossed the ball to Joseph, who fumbled it slightly before throwing it back at Sibadne. The two exchanged words after the possession before officials handed out technicals to each player.
The Hurricanes fed off their home crowd and played with better intensity early to take a three-point advantage inside the second media timeout. With 11:31 left in the first half, the Panthers stood around while Miami's Harlond Beverly saved an Isaiah Wong airball from going out of bounds and pitched an assist to a cutting Norchad Omier for a bucket right before the break.
Federiko Federiko answered with an and-1 to tie the game and Sibande knocked down a triple to put Pitt out in front, 23-20. Jamarius Burton drove for two to cap an 8-0 run that gave his team its largest lead of the evening at 25-20 with 7:48 left until halftime.
The two sides continued to trade haymakers. A pair of 3-pointers from Jorge Diaz-Graham and Nelly Cummings stalled the run and stabilized things for Pitt but Wooga Poplar hit his third 3-pointer of the half to help extend the Hurricanes' lead to six. Diaz-Graham hit another triple to cut the deficit but Miami still went into halftime holding a 42-38 lead.
Burton opened the second half by driving straight at Wong and scoring from the midrange, but Miller and Poplar hit a pair of triples to push Miami's lead to eight with 16:21 to play.
Pitt wasn't able to make much of an inroad by the next media timeout. The Panthers remained within striking distance, down just 61-56 with 11 minutes to play but the crowd at the Watsco Center could feel victory approaching. After Omeir locked up Burton for a full 30 seconds, the Hurricanes scored seven of the next nine and entered the under-eight media timeout leading by nine.
Cummings got Pitt back into the mix with a massive triple from the wing. Then Hinson and Sibande hit two more to cut the deficit to just 66-69 with 6:06 to go. The Panthers once again left Poplar wide open off an offensive rebound and he was money from 3-point distance again, converting a back-breaking shot.
Another Hinson triple made it 71-68 with 3:32 to play, but Poplar's sixth 3-pointer of the night made it a two-possession game with just over two minutes to go. The Panthers made just one free throw over the ensuing 1:01 and trailed by seven entering the final minute.
Sibande rolled a layup in with 47 seconds left then Pitt's full-court pressure resulted in an offensive foul from Jordan Miller, giving the Panthers new life. But Hinson clanked 3-pointer and Miller returned the favor with a dunk to reset the score and put Miami up seven. Pitt looked dead to rights.
Then Hinson scored a quick 2-pointer to make it a 78-73 with 27.3 seconds left and Nijel Pack stepped out of bounds while dribbling upcourt to give the Panthers the ball back. Hinson then nailed a long, off-balance 3-pointer to bring Pitt within two with 13 seconds left.
Omeir pulled in the ensuing inbounds pass and was fouled, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Pitt had the ball down just two with nine seconds left, but a disjointed offensive possession ended with Hinson missing a deep turnaround triple from near midcourt and Miami escaped with a 78-76 win.
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