ORLANDO, Fla. Fake Vans Free Shiping . -- Unselfish offence, tenacious defence. When Pittsburgh plays like it did in routing Colorado 77-48 in the South Regional on Thursday, the ninth-seeded Panthers think they are capable of competing with anyone. It was difficult to argue against that after Talib Zanna scored 16 of his 18 points in the opening half and Pitt built a 28-point lead. However, coach Jamie Dixon and his players know they will have to be even better to go deeper in the NCAA tournament. "Were a better team now than we were earlier in the year," Dixon said. "Thats what you hope to be." The Panthers (26-9) shot 51 per cent from the field and played one of their best games of the season defensively in advancing to a third-round matchup Saturday against either No. 1 seed Florida or No. 16 seed Albany. Dixon said the Panthers have been feeling a lot better about themselves since winning two of three games in last weeks Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, including a quarterfinal victory over North Carolina. "I think last week opened our eyes," Dixon said. "We didnt win the tournament, but we thought we could have." Colorado (23-12) was eager to make amends for an early exit from the tournament a year ago, but had no answers for the 6-foot-9 Zanna. The Pitt centre made six of seven shots in the first half, and the Panthers didnt have any difficulty finishing off the overwhelmed Buffaloes. "Weve got to take care of the ball better and weve got to guard better and weve got to rebound better," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "We didnt do any of those things today. I dont know what Colorado team it was." Josh Scott led the Buffaloes with 14 points, however Colorado couldnt overcome a subpar performance from Askia Booker, who missed his first seven shots and didnt score from the field until 4 minutes into the second half. Cameron Wright had 11 points and Lamar Patterson finished with 10 for Pitt, which moved from the Big East to the ACC this season, where it finished fifth. Zanna, who had a monster game in the ACC tournament with 19 points and 21 rebounds against North Carolina, didnt attempt a shot in the second half, when Dixon gave his starters plenty of rest. Michael Young had nine points in 21 minutes and no regular played more than 30. "I was just trying to be patient. I know if Im open, the ball is going to come to me," said Zanna, a senior from Kaduna, Nigeria. "I was wide open just trying to run the floor, and I was just having wide-open layups." Colorado, whose 23 wins are the second-most in school history, entered the game coming off one of their worst offensive performances of the season in 20-point loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament. The Buffaloes were limited to a season-low 15 field goals while shooting 29 per cent from the field with Scott finishing with a season-low four points and two rebounds. It didnt get any better against Pitt, which is in the NCAA tournament for the 10th time in 11 seasons under Dixon. The Panthers lost in the second round to Wichita State a year ago and will be looking for their first trip to the round of 16 since 2009. "They came out from the start and got on us early and we werent able to recover," Colorados Xavier Johnson said. "No one wants to go out like that, so it hurts. But that will motivate us to get better in the off-season." Colorado shot 29.4 per cent from the field in the opening half, with Booker missing all four of his attempts from the field and being limited to two free throws. Scott had five points on 2-for-3 shooting, but an even bigger indication of the teams troubles: the Buffaloes had zero assists and 10 turnovers. Pitt, meanwhile, matched its point total for its previous game, a 51-48 loss to Virginia in the semifinals of last weeks ACC tournament. The Panthers had 13 assists on 18 baskets in the first 20 minutes, and they outscored Colorado 12-2 in points off turnovers in building the 28-point halftime lead. Booker, like Scott averaging 14 points per game, finished with six on 2-for-9 shooting. Johnson scored 11 points for the Buffaloes, who made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to avoid finishing with fewer points than Pitt scored in the opening half alone. "You go in at halftime down 28, theres not a lot you can say to your guys positively, other than the fact that we had to come out and compete -- and you shouldnt have to ask our guys to do that," Boyle said. "We never gave up. These guys kept battling. It just wasnt our day," he added. "You look at every statistical category you want to. When you have five assists and 17 turnovers, its hard." The 29-point defeat was the largest-ever for the Buffaloes in the NCAA tournament. The previous low point was a 73-46 loss to eventual national champion Cincinnati in 1962. Cheap Fake Vans . Neither player was available Saturday for the Knicks 107-98 loss in Atlanta. "Were going in a different direction and weve got to figure out another spot or two for our ballclub," coach Mike Woodson said before the game. Fake Vans Store . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. http://www.fakevans.com/fake-vans-toy-story/ . -- The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to a $25 million, five-year contract Saturday.PHOENIX -- Milwaukee gave one to the Phoenix Suns Thursday night in the form of a season-worst 26 turnovers. The result was a 116-100 Phoenix victory. After yet another loss for a Milwaukee squad with the NBAs worst record, teammates Larry Sanders and Gary Neal got into a heated, face-to-face argument in the Bucks locker room. The Suns, on the other hand, couldnt say enough nice things about each other. Gerald Green had a season-best 24 points and a career-high five steals starting in place of the Suns injured Eric Bledsoe. "Really it was kind of easy for me," Green said. "My teammates, man, were just doing the job. They were pressuring guys, making guys throw lazy passes and Im just able to use my athleticism to make the steal." Channing Frye added 22 points, going 6 of 9 on 3-pointers, Goran Dragic scored 13 of his 15 in the second half and Markieff Morris added 14 for the Suns, who have won 11 of 14 but were coming off a home loss to Memphis on Thursday. Brandon Knight had 25 points for the Bucks and O.J. Mayo scored 18 of his 20 in the second half. The Suns had 38 points off Milwaukee turnovers. Phoenix had 11 turnovers for just seven Bucks points. "You give them that many easy ones and its tough to come out with a win," Mayo said. "On the road especially." Sanders was overheard questioning Neals attitude in the tense, loud postgame confrontation as Mayo ushered reporters out into the hallway. The locker room was opened about five minutes later, and Neal was still visibly upset as he left. "I earn my money," he yelled back into the locker room. "You should try it some time." Sanders, who signed a four-year, $44 million contract extension in the off-season, declined to talk about the incident. "I just had a bad game," he said. Mayo called the run-in "a little Kumbaya moment. " "It is team bonding," he said. "There are different ways you go about it. It is an emotional roller coaster. When things arent going well, that is when the real men reveal their true colours. " The Bucks have lost 10 of 12 to drop to 7-26. The run-in occurred after coach Larrry Drew had spoken to reporters. Fake Vans SK8. "It was the turnovers that really hurt us," Drew said, "and turnovers that you cant even recover from. Thats the disheartening part about a game like this." Bledsoe missed his second game in a row with a sprained right knee and is expected to be out for another week. Greens performance included a pair of breakaway windmill dunks and four 3-pointers. Coach Jeff Hornacek said Green had some trouble defending Knight one-on-one, but when he was playing defence off the ball, it was another story. "They were running off screens and he did a great job of shooting the gap, getting the steals and putting the highlights up there," Hornacek said. Phoenix led by 20 in the second quarter and 23 in the third before Milwaukee twice cut it to seven early in the final quarter. The Suns never trailed, breaking away from a 28-28 tie with 12 consecutive points to take a 40-28 lead on Ish Smiths 21-footer. Greens first windmill dunk, followed by his 3-pointer, gave the Suns their biggest lead of the half, 58-38, 2:13 before the break. But the Bucks ended the half with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 60-49, Knight sinking a 3-pointer with 16.9 seconds to go. Dragic scored nine in a 13-2 run that put Phoenix back in control, 74-53, with 7:49 left in the third quarter. But Knight scored five and Mayo sank a 3 in a 9-0 Bucks burst that sliced the lead to 87-80 on Mayos steal and dunk with 11:26 to play. Mayos 21-footer again made it a seven-point game at 91-84 with 8:40 to play. Green responded with a 3, then Morris made three shots in a row, the last a fadeaway 9-footer and it was 100-84. Caron Butlers 3 cut it to 104-92, but consecutive 3s by Frye and Greens last windmill made it 112-92 3:11 from the end. Phoenix improved to 20-12. The Suns didnt win their 20th last season until Feb. 27. NOTES: The Bucks, who have used 15 different starting lineups this season, had the same one for the third straight game. ... Phoenix leaves Monday for a five-game road trip, beginning Tuesday night in Chicago. ... Phoenix is 19-1 against Milwaukee at US Airways Center. Last season, the Bucks won to snap a 24-game losing streak in Phoenix. ' ' '  |
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