CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Pitt saw its season flash before its eyes on the road against one of the worst teams in the ACC Tuesday night, but then, in a flash, the Panthers’ season was rescued not once, but twice, by the smallest and quickest player on the team.
Josh Newkirk made a steal and a layup to tie the score with Boston College late in regulation, then made the winning layup with 5.5 seconds left in overtime to lift the Panthers to a come-from-behind 61-60 win at Conte Forum.
The Panthers have won seven overtime games in a row and improved to 5-0 in ACC games in overtime.
Pitt’s previous overtime loss was Jan. 12, 2013 when Marquette won in overtime at Petersen Events Center, 74-67, and coach Jamie Dixon said the fact that the Panthers have had so much success in overtime games in recent years speaks volumes about their toughness.
“I think this one was good for us, I think it is going to help us,” Dixon said. “I told the guys when we got to overtime that we own overtime. We have won seven in a row … that is a pretty unbelievable record. We had to make some plays down the stretch.
“I thought the press was good for us at times, the zone gave us a little bit, but we are a man-to-man team and we have to get better at it. But Josh and Sheldon [Jeter], those are obviously the guys that stand out. We’re finding ourselves and this was a good win.”
The Panthers (11-4, 1-1) trailed for most of the game and looked like they were headed for an embarrassing loss when Dennis Clifford caught a fastbreak dunk with 3:04 to play to give the Eagles a 53-43 lead.
But Pitt switched to a full-court press, which generated a few Eagles turnovers, sparked an 8-0 run and helped the Panthers pull to within 53-51 with 39 seconds to play in regulation after two free throws by Jeter.
On the next possession, the Eagles broke the press, but Aaron Brown tried to make a pass back to the middle of the court and Newkirk intercepted it and took it to the basket for the tying layup with 31 seconds left in regulation.
The Eagles (7-6, 0-2) had two chances to win in the final five seconds, but Patrick Heckmann missed a baseline layup, then John Carney grabbed the rebound but missed the putback at the buzzer.
Newkirk said Pitt’s defense set up his steal and that he knew once he got the ball it was a chance to make a big play for his team.
“I thought our press worked well in some of these late-game situations and we were able to get some things out of it,” Newkirk said. “But really we put ourselves in a hole and we just needed to keep fighting and good things happened. I just was fortunate to be in the right place to get that pass, but a lot of guys made that comeback possible.”
The Eagles didn’t seem too shell-shocked by the furious rally, and they scored first in overtime and even opened up a 60-55 lead with 2:46 to play after a 3-pointer by Heckmann.
But back-to-back layups by Newkirk and Jeters pulled the Panthers back to within 60-59, then the Eagles turned the ball over with 11.8 seconds left and set up Newkirk’s heroics.
“Basically, it was just the same play we had run a few possessions earlier and we saw they switched on their ball screens,” Newkirk said. “So we wanted that same look again and it allowed me to have a mismatch with the ball in my right hand and clear path to the hoop.”
Boston College had a chance to win, but Heckmann’s driving layup missed the mark and the Panthers hung on for the victory.
Newkirk led the Panthers with 15 points and seven assists and Mike Young added 15 points and six rebounds, but Dixon said the Panthers also got a huge lift from Jeter, who played 30 minutes and scored 11 points to go along with eight rebounds.
Olivier Hanlan led Boston College with 18 points and eight rebounds, but the Eagles couldn’t keep the Panthers off the offensive glass and that proved to be the difference as Pitt turned 16 offensive rebounds into a 22-4 advantage in second-chance points.
“That’s who we are,” Dixon said. “We haven’t been that as much, but that is who we want to be.”
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1720 and Twitter @paulzeise.
First Published: January 7, 2015, 4:43 a.m.
Updated: January 7, 2015, 5:38 a.m.
