Pittsburgh 68 - 61 11Marquette
Final
  for this game

Pittsburgh eyes another trip to Big East finals

Mar 14, 2008 - 2:38 PM Pittsburgh (24-9) vs. No. 24 Marquette (24-8) 9:00 pm EDT

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Pittsburgh goes for its seventh trip to the Big East Conference championship in the last eight years when they face No. 24 Marquette in the semifinals on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Panthers, whose only title came in 2003, defeated Cincinnati in the first round before knocking off No. 13 Louisville, 76-69, in overtime on Thursday.

Sam Young had 21 points and 12 rebounds and freshman DeJuan Blair added 16 and eight in Pittsburgh's win.

"It's a great win for us," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "(We) played hard, thought we battled through some things. We had the foul trouble early and got performances by everybody."

Panthers point guard Levance Fields, who missed 12 games with a broken left foot, has started to find his groove lately, averaging 12.4 points and 6.0 assists over his last five games. Fields had 13 points and six assists against the Cardinals.

The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles defeated Seton Hall in the first round and surged past No. 14 Notre Dame, 89-79, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Jerel McNeal scored a career-high 28 points to lead Marquette, which is in the semifinals for the first time since joining the Big East at the start of the 2005-06 season. McNeal leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game.

The winner will take on the winner of West Virginia and Georgetown in the finals on Saturday.






Related News