Pitt's 24-2 run deflates Oral Roberts

Panthers' Fields regains his shooting touch vs. Golden Eagles

By Pat Rooney, Special to the Rocky

Published March 20, 2008 at 9:51 p.m.

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Photo by Javier Manzano / The Rocky

Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair, left, and Levance Fields enjoy the last minutes from the bench Thursday during their first-round NCAA Tournament victory against Oral Roberts.

Photo by Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Blair is fouled from behind by Oral Roberts' Shawn King while trying to shoot from beneath the basket during the first half . Blair had 10 rebounds for Pitt, which faces Michigan State next.

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Levance Fields returned to the Pittsburgh lineup about one month ago after missing 12 games because of a fractured left foot.

Fields' shot, though, finally caught up to the rest of his game and returned Thursday.

Fields, a junior guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., regained his shooting touch at an opportune time for the Panthers, leading Pittsburgh to an 82-63 rout of Oral Roberts in the first round of the South Regional at the Pepsi Center.

It was the sixth consecutive win for the fourth-seeded Panthers (27-9), who will play No. 5 seed Michigan State in the second round Saturday.

"We took good shots, and most of my shots were open looks," said Fields, who scored a season-best 23 points, one short of matching his career best.

"I shot with my legs and was able to get some lift. They went down for me. When you can see the ball go through the basket, it helps your confidence. I'm a very confident guy anyway, but I've been missing since I came back. But I was able to knock down open shots (Thursday)."

Entering the game, Fields had shot only 27.8 percent in the 11 games since his return, including an 8-for-39 mark from three-point range.

That changed against Oral Roberts, as Fields went 8-for-15 with four three-pointers. He also dished out seven assists and sparked the Panthers' dominant first-half surge that put the game away.

Oral Roberts (24-9) took a 13-10 lead before a game-changing onslaught by the Panthers. Pittsburgh scored 18 consecutive points, eight of which were by Fields, in a 24-2 run that essentially took the fight out of the Golden Eagles and led to a 47-24 halftime lead for the Panthers.

Pittsburgh dominated the glass, outrebounding Oral Roberts 50-33 for the game, and held the Golden Eagles to a 34.9 shooting percentage.

"We felt good (early) because we were taking good shots and getting good looks," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "We did that really consistently throughout the game. Eventually, you are going to get on your run when you take good shots. We were controlling the rebounding, I think, and we wanted to make them take tough shots.

"They may have been up a couple early, but I felt good about what we were doing. It's a 40- minute game, and you've just got to keep doing things right."

NUMBERS GAME

128 games played by Oral Roberts senior forward Yemi Ogunoye, left, the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year who finishes his career tied for the most games played in the program's history.

SHARING THE WEALTH

Pittsburgh benefited from five players scoring in double figures in its win against Oral Roberts on Thursday, a feat that is becoming a trend for the surging Panthers. At least four players have scored 10 points or more in four of the Panthers' past five games, including five double-figure scorers in the team's win against Georgetown in the Big East Conference championship game.

Levance Fields led Pitt on Thursday with 23 points, but he enjoyed plenty of support from Sam Young (14 points), Keith Benjamin (12), Gilbert Brown (12) and Ronald Ramon (10).

SUPER SUB

Oral Roberts junior guard Robert Jarvis entered the NCAA Tournament as the top-scoring reserve in the nation, averaging 16.1 points off the bench.

In the Golden Eagles' loss to Pitt, Jarvis continued to flourish in his reserve role, scoring a team-leading 16 points, 13 coming in the second half.

HE SAID IT

"Eventually we started to break their back."

Benjamin, on Pittsburgh getting the ball up the court faster and getting good shots during an 18-0 first-half run against Oral Roberts.

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