Forget throwing down high-flying dunks or swatting shots into the seventh row, these two Pitt men's basketball players send Petersen Events Center crowds into frenzies just by trotting to the scorer's table.

It's probably the one occurrence that can jazz up the late going of a Panthers' blowout. It's also then that the Oakland Zoo starts pestering Panthers coach Jamie Dixon with chants and written material on a white board.

"I love the Zoo," junior Ryan Tiesi (pronounced TEE-zee) said. "The Zoo gives me a lot of love and I love them for it."

"Tiesi Time," whispers fellow junior Tim Frye as the two Pitt walk-on players share a laugh.

Receiving rousing cheers and standing ovations upon entering a blowout win is nothing new for this duo. Tiesi and Frye have taken two unlikely paths to Pitt's roster, but both admit the grind of becoming a non-scholarship student-athlete is worth the effort.

Tiesi, a 2006 graduate of North Allegheny High School, started his freshman year at Division II Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky. He transferred to Pitt last fall to pursue an accounting degree and subsequently ditched his basketball career.

"It was a tough decision to make," Tiesi said, "But I felt transferring was the right decision."

He lined up an internship with PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm based in Downtown Pittsburgh, to run the next spring simultaneously with a full course load.

But it was this time last year that Tiesi received the phone call that would dramatically alter his college life. On the other line was Brian Regan, Pitt's director of basketball operations. Regan knew of Tiesi from his previous job as an assistant coach at Colgate University.

"It was around that time that Coach [Dixon] said we needed a guard," Regan said.

It was during a brutal stretch for the Panthers when they lost guard Mike Cook for the remainder of the season to a leg injury in a win against Duke and guard Levance Fields for an extended amount of time in a loss at Dayton.

Regan looked up Tiesi and talked it over with him.

"I actually had to convince him to join," Regan said, "He thought it was really cool, but he was a little hesitant because he had a lot of stuff lined up."

After thinking it over and talking with his parents, Tiesi took the offer.

"I told him, 'Look, this is one of the top programs in the country, we just beat Duke on national television,'" Regan said.

It was on the scout team that Tiesi met another walk-on guard in Frye.

Frye's basketball career dropped and peaked in two games. The first was a friendly pick-up game against some teachers and students during his sophomore year in high school.

"I made one of the teachers fall with a crossover and I was trying to get him again," Frye said, "I went to do a spin move, but my foot stayed planted on the ground while the rest of my body turned."

He knew he had torn his ACL right away. The injury caused him to miss his junior season, the most important in terms of recruiting. Frye ended his high school career as the leading scorer in the history of Mars Area High School with 1,261 points and came to Pitt with the intention of dropping basketball to pursue a pre-med major.

It was at Pitt that Frye played in the second game that changed his basketball career. This one was an intramural game during his freshman year against former Pitt walk-on Marcus Bowman.

"I played unbelievably in that game," Frye said, "Part-way through that game [Bowman] asked, 'What year are you?' and I told him I was a freshman, and he asked, 'Why don't you try out for the team as a walk-on?'"

Frye's knee still wasn't 100 percent healed, but he took up Bowman's offer anyway. Between his freshman and sophomore year, Bowman brought Frye into open gyms and summer leagues. It was then that a final game propelled Frye's basketball career to where it is now.

With Dixon in attendance, Frye played a summer-league game in what turned out to be his audition for the team.

"It definitely made me play a lot harder to impress him and get the spot," Frye said, "I had to prove myself to him, so I was diving on the floor and hustling."

After that game, Brandin Knight, an assistant on Dixon's staff and a former Pitt standout, told Frye that Dixon wanted him on the team.

"I just got real lucky," Frye said, "I was in the right place at the right time."

As for Tiesi, he survived the 30-hour per week internship on top of his regular course load and his team commitment last spring.

Their roles in practices are changing with each season.

"When I first got here, I didn't do nearly as much in practice as I do now," Tiesi said.

"They might not be in the starting lineup, but they bring that energy every day," Regan said. "That's a big part of what they do for us and that helps make our team better."

Every night, the pregame mantra is always the same and it always hinges on the Panthers' starters putting up big point totals.

"Ryan and Tim always have this thing where before the game I'll ask, 'So, how many you think you're going to get today?'" said Regan, referring to how many minutes the walk-ons may play in any given game. "Usually they'll say something like, 'Yeah coach, I'm thinking like four today,' and I'll say, 'Pretty optimistic?'"

It's the same approach every game for the two walk-ons. Frye admits they share a common bond.

"I get along great with everyone on the team," Frye said, "A lot of the time, we're doing five-on-five drills and Ryan and I aren't in, so we get that time to joke around. It's just that we understand each other's situation better."

Even to the point of giving each other nicknames.

"His name is Ryan 'Bowflex' Tiesi," Frye said, "I saw him doing pull-ups one day and he looked like the dude from the Bowflex commercials."

Whether it's doing pull-ups or simulating other teams in practice, the two appreciate the support during their moments to shine in the blowout victories.

"Ryan and I get a pretty good kick out of [The Oakland Zoo] sitting on the bench," Frye said. "They get so creative with that whiteboard, it's hilarious. It's always nice to have their support as well, it makes you feel good when you get in the game and the crowd erupts."