Sports

GARDEN LOVERS

If only St. John’s or the Knicks played as well at Madison Square Garden as Pittsburgh does, basketball in this city might still be interesting.

The Panthers continued their MSG dominance last night, defeating Cincinnati, 70-64, in the opening round of the Big East Tournament before 19,562 fans.

The victory was Pitt’s fifth in its last six games at the Garden and improved its record at the arena to 20-8 over the past eight seasons.

“This is like our home away from home,” said Sam Young, who scored 21 points to lead Pitt. “We’ve got a lot of New York guys on the team. Their family comes out and supports [them], and they feel like they’re home every time we step in the Garden.”

The seventh-seeded Panthers now face No. 2 seed Louisville tonight. Pitt has appeared in six of the last seven Big East championship games.

Last night, Pitt had to hold off the 10th-seeded Bearcats, who hung in the game until the final minute largely because of the play of guard Deonta Vaughn. The sophomore scored 30 points, including 22 of the team’s final 24 points.

His two free throws with 41 seconds left cut Pitt’s lead to 67-64. Cincinnati then fouled Levance Fields, who made one of two free throws to put the Panthers up by four.

Vaughn had a chance to cut it to two when he put up a floater with 20 seconds left, but Young blocked the shot and Pitt sealed the game at the foul line.

“We’re playing our best basketball now,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’ve won four of our last five. We’ve got our guys healthy. . . . We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’re playing our best basketball here in March, and that’s a good feeling right now. We’re coming along.”

The Panthers appear to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. They are 23-9 and entered last night’s game ranked 25th in RPI.

Pittsburgh has relied on New York recruits for several years and that seems to translate for it when it comes to Manhattan to play. It defeated Duke in December at the Garden and beat St. John’s here in January.

The New York trio of Fields, Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon combined for 37 points last night. Ramon went 4-for-7 from 3-point range and kept the Panthers ahead when Vaughn was on fire in the second half, answering his shots.

Vaughn, a first-team Big East selection, hit two free throws with 11:17 left. It was the beginning of a stretch where he hit four consecutive 3-pointers, the last one cutting Pitt’s lead to 56-54 with 6:54 left in the game.

brian.costello@post.com

Pittsburgh 70 Cincinnati 64