Out with a clang

This was supposed to be a home-court coronation. A rousing sendoff. It was supposed to be the night the fifth-ranked Boston College men's basketball team clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's Big East tournament, in an ESPN "Big Monday" contest against No. 24 Pittsburgh.

Problem was, someone forgot to tell the Panthers.

Playing for its postseason survival, Pittsburgh arrived in Conte Forum with a three-game losing streak but put a sobering smackdown on the Eagles, 72-50, before a sellout crowd of 8,606. The Panthers, playing a familiar spoiler role, pinned BC (23-3, 12-3) with its third loss of the season and first at home, snapping a 19-game home winning streak. Pittsburgh, which snapped BC's 25-game home winning streak in 2001, extended its mastery over the Eagles to six consecutive wins and 10 in the last 11 meetings.

Pittsburgh dominated the boards, 49-27, held the hesitant Eagles to a season-low 31.1 percent shooting from the field (19 of 61), and got double-digit scoring from five players to outnumber Craig Smith, the lone Eagle in double figures with a game-high 22 points and 6 rebounds.

Antonio Graves led the way for Pittsburgh (19-7, 9-6) by scoring 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting. Sophomore center Chris Taft chipped in 12 points and grabbed a game-high 8 rebounds (6 defensive) while Chevon Troutman had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Junior forward John DeGroat scored 10 points (five putbacks) while junior guard Carl Krauser added 10 points and had 7 assists to go with 7 rebounds.

"They wanted it more than we did, simple as that," Smith said. "They lost three in a row and they came to our home and bullied us. They beat us at our own game. So, basically, they sent a message to everybody who was watching, the other teams [in the Big East]: `Be physical with [BC].'

"But we've got to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Barring a loss by Connecticut in either of its two remaining home games (vs. Georgetown tomorrow, Syracuse Saturday), the Eagles must win their regular-season finale at Rutgers Saturday to tie the Huskies (19-6, 11-3) atop the Big East. BC would win the tie-breaker by virtue of its win at UConn Jan. 5.

"We knew this game was extremely important to them," said BC coach Al Skinner. "But it was important to us, too. We've got something to achieve. It's not like we got something to give away here. What's important to them can't be more important than what it is to us. So that motivation for them is fine, but that's no reason why we should've allowed this type of game to occur."

As he started at the numbers on the final stat sheet, Skinner was asked if it was just one of those nights where nothing went right for his team. "Sure looks like it," he said.

"There's no way you're going to win any ballgames when you get only one guy in double figures," Skinner said. "You've got to credit Pittsburgh. They took it to us and we didn't respond. You look at what they did on the backboards and that was whole game right there."

The Panthers set the tone early, sending everybody to the backboard and making sure BC never established any post presence. Jared Dudley, who has made a nice living for himself feasting on table scraps in the paint, was held to a season-low 4 points on 1-for-8 shooting.

That made life difficult for Smith, who fought double- and triple-team pressure to get the ball to the hoop. After the Eagles went almost 9 1/2 minutes without a basket in the first half -- as Pittsburgh built an 18-10 lead -- Smith went on an 11-point tear to help rally BC within 26-21.

Dudley's first (and only) basket of the game cut Pitt's lead to 26-23. A pair of foul shots by Mark McCarroll gave the Panthers a 28-23 lead, but senior center Nate Doornekamp, making his final home-court appearance along with senior guard Jermaine Watson, hit a baseline jumper with 33.8 seconds left that enabled the Eagles to stay within 3 at the break, 28-25.

"We knew it was going to be a physical ballgame, that's not unexpected," Skinner said. "What was, was that I thought we were hesistant about shooting, for whatever reason. We just didn't have a good rhythm. Again, you've got to credit Pittsburgh for coming out and doing what they had to do, defensively."

Twice in the second half, the Eagles pulled within 2 (30-28 and 34-32), but that was as close as it got. The Panthers scored 11 in a row to open up a 45-32 lead. BC mounted a last run to close within 51-42 on Watson's bank shot with 10:16, but that was all the fight the Eagles could muster. Pittsburgh got back-to-back-breaking treys by Graves and Krauser to open up a 67-49 lead. Ballgame.

"We're not intimidated to play that team again," said Smith. "They had their night, but if they play us again, it's not going to be the same thing. It's not going to be the same outcome."