Junior guard Ashton Gibbs scored a game-best 26 points Thursday to help the No. 1-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers cruise past No. 16 UNC-Asheville, 74-51, in the second-round NCAA Tournament contest at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The Panthers (28-5) advanced to the third round of the Southeast Region where they will play No. 8 Butler Bulldogs (24-9), who defeated No. 9 Old Dominion on a buzzer-beating shot, 60-58.
Pitt, the Big East's regular season champion, led 30-25 at halftime, but used 20-second half points from Gibbs to pull away. Teammate junior guard Nasir Robinson tallied 12 points off the bench.
Junior guard Matt Dickey scored a team-best 21 points for Bulldogs, who needed to win the Big South Conference tournament and defeat Arkansas-Little Rock Tusesday night, 81-77, in overtime to play on Thursday.
So far, the Big East Conference is 2-1 on the day. Earlier, No. 5 West Virginia Mountaineers beat No. 12 Clemson Tigers, 84-76, while the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals were upset by No. 14 Morehead State, 62-61.
Three more Big East teams play tonight:
- 7:20 p.m.: (14) Bucknell vs. (3) UConn on TNT.
- 9:45 p.m.: (11) Gonzaga vs. St. John’s on CBS.
- 9:50 p.m.: (11) Mizzouri vs. (6) Cincinnati on TNT.
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