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No. 5 Men's Basketball Defeats West Virginia 67-58
No. 5 Men's Basketball Defeats West Virginia 67-58 2/21/2004
MORGANTOWN, WVa.(Sports Network) - Julius Page and Chevon Troutman each scored 15 points to lead the fifth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers to a 67-58 win over West Virginia in a Big East showdown at WVU Coliseum. Carl Krauser netted 13 points, pulled down eight rebounds and handed off seven assists for the Panthers (24-2, 10-2 Big East), who won their second straight game overall and six of their last seven. Chris Taft added 10 points in the win. Tyrone Salley paced the Mountaineers (14-9, 6-6) with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, as they had a two-game win streak halted. Johannes Herber grabbed a game-high 14 boards in defeat. Pittsburgh led by as many as 14 at 49-35 with seven minutes gone by in the second half, but over the next 10 minutes the Mountaineers slowly chipped away at the deficit. Tyler Relph hit a jumper from the elbow with 2:54 remaining to bring West Virginia within 59-56. Despite the late surge, West Virginia, which shot only 28 percent from the floor in the second 20 minutes, did not get any closer and was outscored 8-2 the rest of the way. Krauser started the final spurt with a runner in the lane to put Pittsburgh up 61-56 and followed on the next possession with a free throw. Jaron Brown made a steal at the defensive end and went coast-to-coast for a layup to make it 64-56 with 30 seconds remaining. The Mountaineers fired up several shots at the end, but all missed badly as Pittsburgh made three free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the game. Trailing 21-18 with 8:12 remaining in the first half, West Virginia scored seven straight points, including a Herber three-pointer to kick-start the spurt, to go up 25-21. The Panthers followed with a quick 5-0 run to retake the lead at 26-25, but J.D. Collins answered at the other end of the court for the Mountaineers with a three from the left wing. However, Page equaled Collins with a three and scored eight points during Pittsburgh's 12-2 run to close out the first half for a 38-30 advantage at the intermission. Game Notes: Pittsburgh improved to just 6-20 at WVU Coliseum...Pittsburgh's senior class won its 100th game...Despite the loss, West Virginia leads the all-time series 88-77.
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