Pittsburgh defeated West Virginia 98-95 in three overtimes. Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker each had 24 for Pitt (19-6, 8-4 Big East) as they really helped their resume with a key win over the Mountaineers (19-5, 8-4). De'Sean Butler, West Virginia's stellar small forward, had 32 points and 11 rebounds and Daryl Bryant added 20. The Panthers were down by five with 35 seconds left, when Travon Woodall hit a floater to cut it to three. Pitt stole the inbounds with Wanamaker leaning almost out of bounds throwing it back in to the top of the key. Gibbs got the ball in the corner behind the trifecta line and drained it to tie the game at 68. Neither team could score in the last 25 seconds and the game went into overtime.
Pitt looked to have the game closed out in the first OT when Gibbs was fouled with the Panthers up by two, 77-75. Gibbs sank the first, but missed the second and West Virginia worked the ball up with Bryant taking a three to tie it. He drilled it with 1.4 seconds left. The game went into a second overtime.
Down 88-85 with 20 seconds left and the ball, West Virginia's Butler took a three, missed, but was fouled. Butler calmly sank all three free throws to tie the game at 88. After a timeout, Pitt brought the ball up and put up a shot, missed, but Woodall got the rebound in front of the free throw line and put it up. The ball went in, but it was too late. The buzzer had already gone off. The teams went into a third overtime.
Pitt won it in the third. Both Gibbs and Gilbert Brown sank two free throws each in the last 30 seconds as the Panthers survived.
It was a classic in probably the best basketball conference in the country.