BUFFALO, N.Y. — Maybe Pittsburgh is ready to make a run in the NCAA tournament.
That first-round loss to Pacific two years ago and last year's second-round loss to Bradley seemed a distant memory Thursday night after the Panthers bolted to a big early lead and beat Wright State 79-58.
Pittsburgh (28-7), the third seed in the West Regional, threatened to make the game a rout at the outset against the 14th-seeded Raiders (23-10), taking a 13-0 lead. Levon Kendall, Mike Cook and Antonio Graves each hit wide-open 3-pointers in the first 94 seconds while the Raiders worried too much about 7-foot center Aaron Gray.
"It was huge," said Gray, who finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocks despite being double- and triple-teamed all game. "We knew that to be successful in the tournament, you've got to get a good start. You never want to play a game having to work from behind, because sometimes you use so much energy coming back you don't have that energy you need in the stretch."
Wright State gamely fought back to tie it at 25, but that early deficit was telling in the long run against the much bigger Panthers.
"I think we were a little tight because early in the game we weren't doing what we normally do on defense," senior guard Drew Burleson said. "We were making defensive errors that we normally don't make. They got a big lead and we never really recovered from that."
"We expended a lot of energy. When you're as small as we are, every possession you're banging with Aaron Gray and Mike Cook, there's a wearing effect," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said. "Then when you get some shots you don't have your legs under you."
Pitt, ousted in the first round seven times in 18 previous appearances in the NCAA tournament, hit 10 of 21 3-pointers. Ronald Ramon hit four 3s and finished with 14 points, and Sam Young had 13 to lead the Panthers, who never trailed and atoned for that humbling 65-42 loss to Georgetown on Saturday night in the Big East title game.
That was Pitt's lowest points total of the season and its most lopsided loss in seven years. But the Panthers recovered nicely against Wright State, which was fresh from a 60-55 victory over Butler in the Horizon League championship game.
The Raiders, behind the hot shooting of guard DaShaun Wood, had won 11 of their previous 12 games, including two over Butler, the fifth seed in the Midwest and a winner here earlier in the day. But Wood, Horizon League player of the year and averaging just under 20 points per game, finished with 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
"Them winning the conference and their tournament with Butler in it, that says a lot," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "It was so easy to tell our guys how good this team was. We were able to do some things that I wasn't sure that we could do as far as making this kid Wood take the tough shot. He didn't get a lot of open looks. It showed our guys were ready to really try to contain him."
With their band playing loudly and more than 400 fans cheering them on, the Raiders finally got on track. And it was freshman Todd Brown who provided the spark, hitting a reverse layup and two mid-range jumpers.
After Keith Benjamin followed his own miss to give Pitt a 21-10 lead at 12:03, Wright State went on a 12-1 run to tie it. Wood finished the spurt with a 3 from the right wing to make it 22-22.
But then Brown made a big mistake. He intentionally fouled Gray under the Pitt basket, pulling him to the floor with 6:41 left as the Panthers reeled from the Wright State surge.
The game was never the same again. Gray hit a short hook and Sam Young followed with a 3 from right wing to put Pitt ahead for good. The Panthers outscored the Raiders 17-5 to take a 43-30 halftime lead.
And when Pitt began the second half with an 11-3 spurt, the Raiders couldn't recover.
"That play just kind of re-ignited us," Gray said, "We had kind of lost something. We allowed them to tie the game back up. It just kind of kicked something back in us. We're a blue-collar city, we're tough players out there, and a play like that just kind of reminded us."
Wright State's only previous trip to the NCAA tournament in 20 years in Division I came in 1993, when it was pounded 97-54 by Indiana in the first round after capturing the Mid-Continent tournament title. And the Raiders started tentatively against Pitt, seemingly overwhelmed by the moment, missing their first four shots and committing a turnover to fall far behind.
"It was our first time in the tournament and it kind of looked like it early," Brownell said.