BOSTON -- After some sour endings and near misses in its previous four trips to the third round in the NCAA tournament, No. 1 seed Pitt exorcised those demons from seasons past with a 60-55 victory against No. 4 seed Xavier last night at TD Banknorth Garden.

With the victory, the Panthers (31-4) advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1974.

They will play No. 3 seed Villanova, which defeated No. 2 seed Duke, 77-54, at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow.

The hero was Levance Fields, who converted a 3-pointer over Dante Jackson with 50.9 seconds remaining to give Pitt a 55-54 lead it would not relinquish.

Fields is not Pitt's best 3-point shooter, but he always takes the big shots at the end of games. Fields made a winning 3-pointer to beat Duke at Madison Square Garden last season and made two more clutch 3-pointers in the waning moments when the Panthers beat Connecticut in February.

"I never get tired of watching Levance take big shots," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

"He's made them year after year."

The one he made last night was the biggest of them all.

This was Pitt's fifth trip to the Sweet 16 in the past eight seasons. While the others ended in heartbreak, this one ended with the Panthers celebrating the fact that tomorrow night they play for the right to go to the Final Four for the first time since 1941.

As the clock ticked down, Fields ran toward Dixon and jumped into his arms. It was the culmination of four years of hard work for Fields and eight years of frustration for the Panthers, who were first denied the Elite Eight in 2002 by No. 10 seed Kent State.

"I wanted to embrace him because he deserves this," Fields said.

Like many other occasions when he has made big shots, Fields was not having a great game.

To that point, he was 3 for 9 from the field and 1 for 4 from 3-point range.

But when the Panthers need a basket in the clutch Fields is going to be the player to take the shot every time.

"It was a ball screen and I couldn't turn the corner," Fields said. "I did a little in and out move to get him on his heels a little bit.

"Once I did that and created some space I had all the confidence in the world that it was going to go in."

Sam Young led Pitt with 19 points. DeJuan Blair had 10 points and 17 rebounds for his requisite double-double. But they knew they weren't going to get the ball after the Panthers fell behind.

It was Fields' game to win or lose.

"In big situations I like Levance taking the shot," Young said.

Fields' dramatics came after the Panthers blew a five-point lead with five minutes remaining.

Xavier's Brad Redford made a 3-pointer to get the Musketeers to within two with 4:31 remaining. B.J. Raymond made two free throws to tie the score with 3:46 left.

And then Jackson drove to the basket and made an uncontested layup with 1:49 to go for a 54-52 lead.

After Fields put the dagger into the hearts of the Musketeers with the 3-pointer, he helped put the game away on Xavier's next possession.

Raymond had the ball with a chance to give the Musketeers the lead again, but Gilbert Brown pressured him above the key. That forced him into Blair, who hedged out high, and he tipped the ball away toward the other end of the court.

Anticipating Blair's heads-up play, Fields grabbed the ball and made a layup with 23 seconds on the clock for 57-54 lead.

"We're a confident group," Fields said. "We understand that no game is going to be easy. We still haven't played our best basketball. But in the last three games when we needed to make plays we made them. We keep advancing.

"Hopefully, on Saturday we'll play better, but if we have to win this way again, we'll do it."

The Musketeers did a good job of getting the Panthers to play their type of game. Xavier is one of the best defensive teams in Division I and forced the Panthers into a half-court contest.

Xavier led, 37-29, at halftime as the Musketeers established themselves as the more physical team.

They held a 23-16 edge in rebounding and did not allow Blair to be a factor. Blair was just 1 for 6 from the field and had two points and four rebounds at halftime.

In the second half, Pitt won the rebounding battle, 28-21, and Blair became more of a factor, scoring eight points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

"We knew Xavier was a physical team," Blair said. "They hit us with the first punch. In the second half, we came back with some defensive plays.

"Coach kept saying whoever wins the rebounds will win the game. In the second half, we clamped down on the rebounding."

Pitt scrapped its way back into the game in the early stages of the second half. Xavier did not score on its first 11 possessions after halftime, going 0 for 10 from the field with three turnovers while Pitt scored nine consecutive points to go ahead, 38-37, with 14:33 remaining.

From there, it was back and forth with seven lead changes over the final minutes until Fields hit the big shot.

Again.