Matt Freed, Post-Gazette photos Pitt seniors Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall celebrate near the end of their 80-66 win against West Virginia last night at the Petersen Events Center. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Loss leaves West Virginia with a glaring hole on its NCAA resume

Pitt's Aaron Gray never has much to say to his teammates in terms of motivational words. He leaves that type of stuff to the more vocal players.

The silent 7-foot center usually leads by actions. But his raspy voice last night told a different story. Gray took it upon himself to deliver a stirring halftime to speech to his reeling teammates, and they responded by staging a come-from-behind, 80-66 victory on senior night at the Petersen Events Center.

"It just felt like the right time," Gray explained afterward. "We have a lot of guys who are real inspirational, real good leaders. I usually don't say much. I usually lead by example. I just thought this was my last night. We're playing for first place. I couldn't imagine how I would have felt if we let this game slip away."

With the victory, No. 12 Pitt (25-5, 12-3) pulled into a first-place tie with Georgetown atop the Big East and can claim at least a share of the conference championship with a victory Saturday at Marquette. Georgetown plays host to Connecticut. Georgetown has the inside track on the top seed in the Big East tournament because the Hoyas own the tiebreaker against the Panthers.

It was a costly loss for the Mountaineers (20-8, 8-7), who were hoping to get a road victory to solidify their NCAA tournament resume. They need to beat Cincinnati at home Saturday and likely win multiple games at the Big East tournament to get into the 65-team NCAA field.

The Panthers needed some motivational words after a lackluster first half in which the Mountaineers scorched the defense and shot 54 percent from the field. West Virginia led, 32-29, at the intermission.

Pitt's Levance Fields drives to the net between West Virginia's Darris Nichols and Joe Mazzulla last night. Fields led the Panthers with 14 points and five assists. Click photo for larger image.

"Aaron said what he had to say and coach [Jamie] Dixon said we weren't playing like ourselves," senior forward Levon Kendall said. "He said, 'They're outworking us and we're playing for the Big East championship. There's no reason they should be playing harder than we are.' I think guys realized that and responded."

The message got through loud and clear. Pitt played an almost flawless second half. The Panthers shot 70 percent from the field while limiting West Virginia to 29 percent shooting.

"I'm so proud of our guys, so proud of our seniors," Dixon said. "After 30 games, we're right where we want to be, playing for a Big East championship."

Pitt got a balanced scoring effort with five players reaching double figures. Sophomore point guard Levance Fields led the way with 14 points. Mike Cook, Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall had 12 apiece and Ronald Ramon added 10.

Gray also grabbed 13 rebounds and recorded his 13th double-double of the season. Kendall came one rebound shy of second career double-double.

Fields and Cook did all of their damage in the second half after being shut out in the first 20 minutes. Fields and Ramon combined for nine assists and one turnover between them and Cook added five assists. As a team, Pitt had 24 assists on 29 field goals.

As impressive as the offense was, it was the defense that pointed the way to victory. The Panthers held Frank Young, West Virginia's leading scorer, to two points. The Mountaineers made 11 of 33 shots from behind the 3-point arc, but did not shoot well enough to overcome Pitt.

"We have to shoot a very high rate to beat a team of this caliber on the road," West Virginia coach John Beilein said. "We didn't shoot well enough."

Pitt opened the second half by scoring the first nine points and never trailed again. West Virginia kept it close for most of the second half. The Mountaineers trailed by three after Jamie Smalligan made a 3-pointer from the corner to make the score 54-51 with 8:12 left.

But consecutive baskets from reserve forward Tyrell Biggs, a 3-pointer from Fields and two free throws from Cook in the next three minutes grew the lead to 63-51 with 4:37 to go. From the time Smalligan made his 3-pointer, Pitt held the Mountaineers without a field goal until Joe Mazzula made a 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining. One of the keys was limiting West Virginia's transition offense. In the first half, the Mountaineers scored 14 points off seven Pitt turnovers. In the second half, they didn't score any points from Pitt turnovers.

"We were just closing out on their shooters in the second half," Cook said. "We wanted to make them play against our half-court defense."

The victory was the 101st for Pitt's seniors.

"It was great," Gray said. "It was a senior night to remember."

NOTES -- Pitt swept a season series from West Virginia for the first time since 2003. ... Pitt set a season attendance record (208,997). ... Sophomore forward Sam Young sat out the second half because his knees were giving him problems. ... Darris Nichols led West Virginia with 14 points.