MILWAUKEE -- Anyone who watched Pitt this season knew one of its two shots in the waning seconds of an NCAA tournament second-round game against Xavier was going to go in to force overtime. Pitt's unexpected and unforgettable season was forged on last-minute comebacks and last-second heroics.

The Panthers had done it time and time again in the season. But in a contest they had to win to extend their season their last-gasp efforts could not breathe life back into their season.

Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker had open looks at 3-pointers in the final three seconds, but they missed, and No. 6 seed Xavier escaped with a 71-68 victory Sunday at Bradley Center.

Xavier will play No. 2 seed Kansas State Thursday in a Sweet 16 game in Salt Lake City. Pitt's season is over after being knocked out of the NCAA tournament by a lower seed for the third year in a row.

"We've seen these situations before with West Virginia, Louisville ... even the Wofford game," Wanamaker said. "So in our minds, the game wasn't over. I had the confidence that we were going to tie the game and go to overtime. Ashton got a good look. I got a good look. The shots just didn't go in."

Pitt had the opportunities to tie because Xavier junior Dante Jackson opened the door by missing two free throws with 6.9 seconds remaining. After the second miss, Travon Woodall dribbled up the court and found Gibbs, who let his 3-pointer go with three seconds remaining.

"It was definitely a good look," Gibbs said. "I think I jumped too high on it. It wasn't my normal shot. My adrenaline was rushing. I just jumped too high and that's why it was long."

After a mad scramble for the ball it went out of bounds and the clock appeared to run out. But the officials went to the scorer's table and determined that it went out of bounds with 0:00.4 left. That gave Pitt one final chance.

The play was designed to get Gibbs another shot, but Xavier had him covered. Wanamaker got open and had another clean look at the basket, but his shot grazed the front of the rim.

"I didn't know I was going to be that open," Wanamaker said. "I popped back to the ball and Jermaine hit me. I just missed the shot. I should have shot it with a little more arc. Maybe it would have had a better chance. It just missed."

Pitt had to make a frantic comeback to be in position to send the game to overtime. The Panthers were down by seven with 35 seconds remaining. Gilbert Brown made a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining to cut the lead to four and another one with 16 seconds left to cut it to three. All three of his 3-pointers came in the final 1:45.

But Brown was not in the game for the final two possessions because he fouled out with 14 seconds left after a foul on Terrell Holloway.

"I didn't even know I had four fouls to be honest," Brown said. "We were in a tough position. We were trying to make a comeback."

The Panthers were playing catch-up for the entire second half because Xavier took command of the game with a 16-0 run midway through the first half. Pitt went from having an 18-15 lead to trailing, 31-18, after a futile four-plus minute stretch was over.

Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford scored eight of his game-high 27 points in the run. Pitt cut the lead to seven by halftime, but Crawford played a big role in the Musketeers pushing the lead to 13 again early in the second half after scoring 11 points in the first 6:19.

Crawford was 9 for 15 from the field and 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Pitt had no answers for the Atlantic 10 Conference player of the year. Jermaine Dixon, Pitt's top defender, guarded him for stretches as did Wanamaker, but no one could stop him from taking over the game.

"He's a great player," Wanamaker said.

Gibbs, Pitt's top scorer, tallied 19 points, but he only had one after halftime after making four 3-pointers in the first half. He was 0 for 4 from the field in the second half.

"They didn't do anything special," Gibbs said. "They closed out on me. I just didn't knock down shots. That's what it came down to. They didn't fall for me."

Pitt accomplished many of the goals it set before the game. The Panthers outrebounded Xavier, 40-31, and only committed nine turnovers. But Xavier shot 48 percent from the field. The Musketeers shot 52 percent in the second half, when the Panthers could never come up with that big defensive stop to apply some pressure.

"We had too many defensive lapses, not getting around screens, not trailing, not extending," senior guard Jermaine Dixon said. "We just didn't do a lot of stuff we usually do, and that hurt us."

Even with the porous defense the Panthers clawed their way back into the game by shooting 47 percent in the second half. Brown scored all of his 14 points in the second half and Wanamaker scored 11 of his 16 after halftime to lead the comeback.

Pitt cut the lead to one with 9:03 remaining after Travon Woodall scored to cap a 12-0 run. But that momentum quickly disappeared after Xavier answered with a 7-0 run over the next 2 1/2 minutes.

Pitt trimmed the lead to three three times in the final 4:39, but missed free throws came back to haunt the Panthers. They were 11 for 18 from the line in the game and missed three of their final five in the final 5:20, including one from Gibbs, an 88-percent free-throw shooter, with 1:05 to go.

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