NEW YORK - Pitt did something last night that hadn't been achieved before in the 28-year history of the Big East basketball. The Panthers beat Marquette, 68-61, last night in a Big East tournament semifinal toadvance to the conference championship game for the seventh time in eight seasons.

Pitt (24-9) will face Georgetown in the championship game at 9 p.m. today. Georgetown beat Pitt in last year's title game. The Panthers beat the Hoyas in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams this season.

No other team in the history of the Big East has ever had a sustained run of success like the Panthers have since 2001. Connecticut and Syracuse are the only schools to rival the Panthers, but they never did

seven title games in eight years. The Huskies got to the title game eight times in a 10-year span from 1995-2004. Syracuse made the title game eight times in an 11-year span from 1980-1990.

Last night's victory was Pitt's 18th in its past 24 Big East tournament games.

The Panthers avenged an 18-point loss to Marquette that occurred one month ago today. That loss was one of the low points of the season for Pitt. The victory in front of a sellout Madison Square Garden crowd last night was one of the season's highlights.

It was Pitt's sixth victory in the past seven games and proves the Panthers have become a much different team since Levance Fields returned to the lineup full time. The only loss in the past three weeks came against West Virginia.