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NCAA - Midwest
MARQUETTE 77, PITT 74: Guard hits 20 in second half, makes big shot at end.
By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS -- After a subpar first half in the biggest game of his career and the biggest for his school in 26 years, Marquette junior guard Dwyane Wade showed why he's one of the nation's premier players.
Maybe the premier player.
Wade scored 20 of his game-high 22 in the second half, including an acrobatic driving layup in the waning seconds, to lead the No. 3-seeded Golden Eagles to a 77-74 win against No. 2 Pittsburgh in the Midwest Region semifinals Thursday night at the Metrodome.
Marquette (26-5) advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1977 when Al McGuire's team won the NCAA championship. It meets Kentucky in Saturday's region finale.
"Our players never backed down, they never flinched," coach Tom Crean said.
The Big East Conference tournament champion Panthers (28-5), who had the nation's second-longest winning streak at 11, were looking for their first Elite Eight appearance since the tournament field expanded in 1985.
Blame Wade.
At least in the second half.
Wade and heretofore hot-shooting backcourt mate Travis Diener struggled mightily (1-for-5 and 1-for-4, respectively) in the opening half as the Golden Eagles fell behind by nine before rallying to tie it at 34 at halftime.
"It's a long year, it's a long game also," Wade said. "If you have a bad first half, it doesn't mean you're going to have a bad second half."
Crean said: "His record since he's been here is 52-12 so whenever he's quote-unquote struggling, he always finds ways to make his teammates better and that's why we're sitting here tonight because he has totally bought into being one of the most unselfish players in America."
Wade showed that team-first, win-first attitude early in the second half when he passed to forward Robert Jackson for layins on consecutive possessions.
Then in a span of 1:41, Wade showed his repertoire against one of the nation's stingiest defenses by hitting a baseline turnaround, a fallaway jumper, a pullup jumper and a fastbreak dunk off his steal for a 49-42 lead with 14:56 left.
Minutes later, Wade provided a shining moment sure to make the highlight shows.
With the shot clock winding down, he drove the lane and was hacked on his right arm by guard Jaron Brown but scooped the ball toward the basket as he crashed to the court. The ball rolled in and his three-point play gave Marquette its largest lead, 60-51 with 9:55 left.
The Panthers, down 71-61 with 3:56 left, rallied behind sophomore forward Chevon Troutman, whose seven straight points cut the deficit to 71-70 with 1:29 left.
Junior forward Scott Merritt made two free throws to end the Pitt run, but point guard Brandin Knight answered with a driving layup, setting the stage for Wade's crucial layup.
"I knew I had to get to the hole," Wade said. "I wasn't going to settle for a jump shot."
With Marquette leading 77-74 lead, Diener, who had hit 11 of 12 free throws in the opening round games, missed both free throws that would have sealed the win with 2.3 seconds. But freshman Karl Krausser's halfcourt heave was well off the mark.