Feb. 5, 2012
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
PITTSBURGH - Ashton Gibbs and Tray Woodall combined for 54 points to help Pittsburgh (15-9 overall, 4-7 BIG EAST) hold off Villanova here in a nationally televised contest at the Petersen Events Center on Sunday afternoon 79-70. VU falls to 10-13 overall, 3-8 in the BIG EAST.
"I thought that their guards were tremendous," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "They made big shots, hit all their free throws and were the difference today."
Junior Maalik Wayns led the Wildcats in scoring with 18 points while Dominic Cheek added 13 points."
"We battled and that's good but we had too many moments of inconsistency," said Wright. "It is inconsistency born of inexperience."
Points were hard to come by for both teams over the first eight minutes of action. Villanova built a 10-5 edge over the first 8:04 with Wayns setting the pace with four points. The Wildcats were able to push the lead to 19-14 after consecutive James Bell 3-point goals.
But the Panthers were able to fire up their offense over the next five minutes. Pitt reeled off a 24-4 run, sparked by the long distance marksmanship of guards Ashton Gibbs and Tray Woodall.
With 2:19 left in the half, Pitt moved out to a 38-23 lead.
At the half, Pitt held a 40-28 lead. The Panthers connected on .534 of their field goal attempts in the period, including 6-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Villanova, meanwhile, sank just 10-of-33 from the field (.303) and its only triples of the half came courtesy of Bell.
Pitt began the second half with five straight points as its sharp shooting continued. The Panthers converted 3-of-5 to open the half. At the first official break with 15:39 to play in the half, Pitt's advantage was 49-33.
Villanova narrowed the deficit to nine on three occasions midway through the half. Each time, however, Pitt had an answer and was able to restore the double digit edge. A pair of Woodall free throws with 7:50 to play gave the Panthers a 59-48 margin.
VU continued to scrap, though, and closed to within seven points twice. But Woodall and Gibbs responded each time and the lead was back to nine at 66-57 with 3:16 to play.
A Maurice Sutton basket with 1:54 left pulled the Wildcats to within 67-61. Then, after a stop at the defensive end, Wayns drilled a triple from the top of the key to make it 67-64. Pinkston drew a charging foul on the Panthers to give the 'Cats possession with 43 seconds left. This time, Wayns could not knock down a clean look from three and Pitt's Woodall collected the carom.
"I had a great look," stated Wayns. "I just didn't knock it down."
Woodall sank both free throws to extend the lead to five before Pinkston matched those with 22 seconds left to again cut the gap to three. But the Panthers found Woodall behind the press and his basket was good. The foul called on Ty Johnson was ruled to be flagrant, giving Pitt possession after Woodall sank both free throws.
Two more free throws by Gibbs made it 77-68 with 18.6 seconds left.
The final count was 79-70.
