Pittsburgh 84, Virginia Commonwealth 79, OT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ Eric Maynor and his Virginia Commonwealth teammates spent all of their energy forcing overtime. Levance Fields and Pittsburgh took over from there. <br/><br/>Fields atoned for two

Saturday, March 17th 2007, 8:05 pm

By: News On 6

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ Eric Maynor and his Virginia Commonwealth teammates spent all of their energy forcing overtime. Levance Fields and Pittsburgh took over from there.

Fields atoned for two missed free throws at the end of the regulation and Pitt recovered after blowing a 19-point lead, beating upstart VCU 84-79 Saturday in the second round of the West Regional.

Maynor, who hit the game-winning shot to beat Duke in the first round, led a comeback from a 51-32 deficit. Fields made a clutch 3-pointer in overtime and Ronald Ramon scored 5-points in the extra session.

3rd-seeded Pitt (29-7), which has never won more than two games in an NCAA tournament, will make its fourth appearance in school history in the round of 16.

Jesse Pellot-Rosa had 20 points, all in the 2nd half, and B.A. Walker also had 20 for the 11th-seeded Rams (28-7). Maynor finished with 14 points, 8-assists and 3-steals.

Sam Young finished with 15 points to lead Pitt and Aaron Gray had 14 points and 8-rebounds. Mike Cook and Young each made a pair of free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the triumph.