Perhaps Pitt was simply overdue. The basketball gods have been rather cruel to Pitt all season as the Panthers have lost a few games in downright miraculous fashion. The last second 3 pointers by Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia) and Tyler Ennis (Syracuse) at the Peterson Events Center certainly come to mind. For the first time this year though, Pitt grabbed a miracle win of their own with a 83-78 today victory at Clemson.
With Pitt trailing 67-62 with 4.4 seconds left, Lamar Patterson hit a 3 pointer and gave Pitt one last prayer. On the ensuing inbounds play, Clemson’s Damarcus Harrison turned it over and the ball somehow bounced into the hands of Josh Newkirk.
Newkirk frantically pumped but eventually got a clean shot off just as the buzzer sounded and drained a game-tying jumper to set the game into overtime tied at 67 in miraculous fashion.
In the overtime, it was all Pitt.
Lamar Patterson (30 points on 10 for 19 shooting, 5 for 9 from behind the arc and a perfect 5 for 5 from the line) was simply brilliant in the extra frame. He drained a 3 pointer to give Pitt its first lead (70-67) since early in the 1st half and contributed defensively with 7 defensive rebounds as well.
For Patterson, it was an incredible effort in his final regular season game of his college career as he literally willed his team to victory. It all but guaranteed Pitt (23-8 overall and 11-7 in the ACC) an NCAA Tourney berth next weekend during the NCAA Tourney Selection Show and at the very least, sealed the 5th seed in this week’s upcoming ACC Conference Tourney in Greensboro, NC.
Patterson received support from junior shooting guard Cameron Wright (16 points including 4 in overtime on 5 for 11 shooting and 5 for 6 from the line). Senior Talib Zanna posted yet another double-double with 10 points (on 5 for 8 shooting) and 10 boards.
For Clemson (19-11 overall and 10-8 in the ACC), the story of the game was the 12 turnovers. Turnovers have plagued the Tigers all season long but today they were extremely costly in the loss as they occurred at the most crucial moments of the game.
Forwards KJ McDaniels (24 points on 7 for 18 shooting and 8 for 9 from the charity stripe) and Jason Blossomgame (14 points on 5 for 10 shooting and a perfect 2 for 2 from the line) and guard Rod Hall (12 points on 4 for 6 shooting) led the Tigers in a losing effort.
Next up: Pitt will play the winner of the Wake Forest / Notre Dame game in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, NC. Pitt will play at 2pm EST on Thurs 3/13 on ESPN.