SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – The note Allen Griffin posted inside his
locker Tuesday night was all the inspiration Syracuse's senior
point guard needed.
It read: "15 points, 15 assists. You only have one senior
night. Give us something to remember."
|  | | Damone Brown (25) sparkled on senior night, too, with 21 points and 10 rebounds in Syracuse's win over Pitt. |
And so he did, getting 14 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in
his final home game to lead Syracuse (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) to an 80-69 victory
over Pittsburgh.
"It's funny, and you all might think I'm joking and lying, but
I called it before I came over here (tonight)," Griffin said after
the first triple-double of his life. "I'm just happy to go out on
a hot note like this."
Senior forward Damone Brown also had a big night with 21 points
and 10 rebounds as Syracuse (21-7, 9-6 Big East) took sole
possession of second place in the Big East West Division with one
game left in the regular season.
"Allen just put us on his shoulders tonight," Syracuse coach
Jim Boeheim said. "He did everything for us. This was a huge win,
to get to nine (wins in the conference). We're trying to get better
and we want to play better."
Pittsburgh (14-12, 6-9) needed wins here and in its season
finale against Virginia Tech to improve its seeding for the Big
East tournament, which begins next week.
Syracuse rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Panthers
71-66 in early January, a game that helped define the team's
character. On this night, the Orangemen built a big early lead and
the Panthers couldn't recover.
Syracuse reeled off 17 straight points in the first half to take
command, closing the period with a 23-8 rush that did in the
Panthers.
"They really exploited us the last 10 minutes of the first
half, pushing the ball on us in fast breaks," Pitt coach Ben
Howland said. "We just did a poor job of transition defense, they
got up on us there and really hurt us. It seemed like we were half
a step slow tonight. It looked like we were out of it emotionally
and I have no answer for that because this was a huge opportunity
for us."
Preston Shumpert, who scored a season-low eight points in
Syracuse's 72-61 loss at Georgetown on Saturday, had 19 points and
seven rebounds, and Kueth Duany added 13 points.
Ricardo Greer led the Panthers with 14 points, while Brandin
Knight had 12 and Jaron Brown 11.
After Isaac Hawkins hit a floater in the lane to pull the
Panthers within 15-14 with 10:48 to go in the first half, Duany
began the Syracuse surge with a driving slam dunk with 9:08 left.
Duany paced the run with nine points and Griffin had five.
Pitt was held scoreless for nearly six minutes until Greer hit a
3-pointer with 33 seconds left to move the Panthers within 38-22 at
halftime.
"They just came out with more intensity than we did," said
Hawkins, who had five points and seven rebounds. "They just came
out with a high level of energy and brought it to us."
Syracuse upped the lead to 22 points early in the second half.
Damone Brown hit two free throws, nailed a 3-pointer from the right
corner, fed Billy Celuck for an easy layin, and then hit a spinning
layup in the lane to make it 51-29 with 16:58 to play.
Griffin's 3 midway through the half boosted the lead to 63-36,
but the Panthers rallied with a 12-0 run. Zelimir Stevanovic began
it with the first of his two 3-pointers and Knight finished it with
a three-point play with 9:46 remaining.
"To get up 27 in this league is almost never done," Boeheim
said. "Then, when you relax for just a minute, we left a couple of
their shooters open, they knocked them down, and all of a sudden
they're back in the game."
That's the way it seemed after Jaron Brown hit a runner in the
lane and a three-point play to cut the lead to 66-54 at 8:36.
But Shumpert hit a 3 and Damone Brown converted a follow shot to
put Syracuse back on top 72-58 with 5:24 remaining.
"It's great, there's no other way to go out, to go out with a
good game," Damone Brown said. "We came in knowing we had to get
a win. That's what we wanted more than anything."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Syracuse Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Allen Griffin utilizes the pick and scores the easy layup.
avi: 911 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Kueth Duany kicks it out to Preston Shumpert for the open 3-pointer.
avi: 753 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Damone Brown follows up the Kueth Duany miss with the basket and the foul.
avi: 612 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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