Ronald Ramon had more than a month to digest the fact that he could not win a game for Pitt in the Big East opener at Villanova early last month. Thirty one days after making that ill-timed turnover against the Wildcats, Ramon had a chance at redemption last night against hated rival West Virginia.

Ramon redeemed himself in dramatic fashion when he made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Pitt a 55-54 victory against the Mountaineers at the Petersen Events Center.

"It's a [180-degree] turnaround," Ramon said. "That feeling at the end of the Villanova game was a bad feeling. This is definitely a good feeling."

It was the second time this season Pitt has won a game in the final seconds. Levance Fields made a 3-pointer in the waning moments to beat Duke at Madison Square Garden in December. With Fields out of the lineup with a fractured foot, Pitt turned to its senior guard to make the big shot, even though he had made just one of his five previous 3-point attempts last night.

Pitt called a timeout with eight seconds remaining after West Virginia's Alex Ruoff made one of two free throws. Ramon flashed to the corner when Keith Benjamin penetrated toward the basket with three seconds left. Benjamin dished to Ramon, who got the shot off with two-tenths of a second left on the clock.

"Big-time players make big-time shots," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was flabbergasted afterward. He blamed sophomore Wellington Smith for leaving Ramon wide open in the corner. Guard Joe Mazzulla had Ramon initially, but he switched onto Benjamin. Smith was drawn to Benjamin when he began his penetration to the basket.

"He made a big shot," Huggins said. "But that was the guy we couldn't let beat us."

The victory pulled Pitt (18-5, 6-4) into a tie for fifth place in the Big East standings. The loss sent the Mountaineers (16-7, 5-5) into a three-way tie for eighth.

Pitt had a chance to win at the end because of West Virginia's misadventures at the free-throw line. The Mountaineers were 7 for 17 from the line for the game and 2 for 8 in the final 11:08.

The most crucial miss came with 4:58 remaining. With Pitt leading, 48-45, Joe Alexander stepped to the line and made two free throws before Huggins called a timeout. When Alexander was at the line, Dixon was screaming to the officials that they had the wrong player taking the shots.

During the timeout, the officials reviewed the foul and took Alexander's two points off the scoreboard. They then made freshman Cam Thoroughman go to the line for the one-and-one opportunity.

It turned out to be a four-point swing in favor of Pitt. Thoroughman missed the front end, and Pitt rebounded. Brad Wanamaker made a jumper for a 50-45 lead.

"The assistant coaches saw it from the very beginning," Dixon said. "They told me it was the wrong guy. I was very surprised that they checked it after they were made. But we were saying it the entire time."

The officials were able to review the play because Huggins called a timeout. If one second had ticked off the clock they would not have been allowed to make the review.

Huggins said he had never been involved in a game in his 26 seasons of coaching where the officials took points off the board like that after a review, but he did say it was the correct call.

The officiating crew made a statement after the game: "It was a correctable error situation and it was corrected within the parameters of what the officials are allowed to do."

Those turned out to be a crucial two points. The Mountaineers stormed back with a 9-2 run to claim the lead before Ramon made his dramatic shot.

The Panthers won this game in spite of another suspect offensive performance. They were 20 for 50 from the field. Benjamin and Sam Young led the Panthers with 10 points apiece. Young scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.

NOTES -- Junior point guard Levance Fields was cleared to begin practicing with the team. Fields was on the treadmill yesterday before the game and is expected to take part in tomorrow's practice at the Petersen Events Center. The players are off today. "It looks good," Dixon said. "He was running today. It feels good. They feel like the injury is healed. It's up to him at this point. It will be about pain tolerance." Fields had set the Feb. 15 game at Marquette at his target date to return to the lineup, but Pitt trainer Tony Salesi said earlier this week that was too aggressive.