Talib Zanna scored 14 points as Pitt defeated Washington State 57-53 on Wednesday night to knot the best-of-3 series. The Panthers (21-17) and Cougars (19-17) play Game 3 on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh for the CBI title.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said he wasn’t sure whether Gibbs, an all-Big East honorable mention who has been dealing with a bad ankle all seasons, would be available Friday.

“That ankle has been bothering him all year long,” Dixon said. “It’s both ankles, but the right has been the major source of concern. This game, he just did shootaround and didn’t think he could go.”

Gibbs has averaged 14.6 points and 2.1 assists this season and scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting Monday in a 67-66 loss at Washington State.

Zanna was a surprising leading scorer for the Panthers. He had scored double digits just four times entering the CBI, yet has scored at least 11 points in four of Pitt’s five CBI games.

Lamar Patterson said the performance shouldn’t be a surprise.

“We expect a lot from Talib,” he said. “He’s one of the strongest players on the team, if not the strongest. Today, he showed he was the strongest on the court.”

Cougars junior Reggie Moore, who scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, tied the game at 49 with two free throws with 1:41 left. Lamar Patterson answered right away with a jumper and Pitt reclaimed the lead.

Patterson scored 12 for Pitt.

DaVonte’ Lacy and Abe Lodwick each scored nine for WSU.

Washington State scored only 20 first-half points, the fewest Pitt had allowed in any half this season, and trailed by nine at the break. But the Panthers went 7:06 in the second half without making a basket, to keep the game close.

After shooting 51.2 percent from the floor and 60 percent from 3-point range on Monday, the Cougars shot 43.6 percent from the floor, and 4 of 13 from 3-point range.

“I think we’re very comfortable in our home arena and I think that probably helped with our shooting (there),” Cougars coach Ken Bone said. “But I felt like Pittsburgh did a great job of guarding Abe and guarding Patrick Simon, guys who hit some 3s the other night.”

The Panthers used an early 13-2 run that included 3-pointers from Tray Woodall, J.J. Moore and John Johnson to grab the lead.

Forward Nasir Robinson, who had made his first 3-pointer of the season Monday, hit his second with 43 seconds left in the first half. That gave Pitt its largest lead of the game, 29-18.

The Panthers are used to playing in the NCAA Tournament, appearing in 10 straight until this season. Robinson said the opportunity to win any tournament crown is one that he didn’t want to pass up.

“We wanted to play in this,” he said. “We could easily have backed out of this tournament, but we wanted to play. Now we want to finish it out and try to get this win.”

Abe Lodwick led Washington State (19-16) with 16 points.

Woodall, who led Pitt (20-17) with 16 points, took an inbound pass with 3.5 seconds left and ran the length of the floor before making an out-of-control layup attempt that Shelton swatted out of bounds. Pitt inbounded again and Lamar Patterson’s long jumper missed as time expired.

Washington State played without leading scorer Brock Motum, who hurt his ankle in the semifinal victory over Oregon State last week.

The second game of the series is Wednesday at Pittsburgh. If needed, the third game is Friday in Pittsburgh.

The Cougars got their third win of the season over the Beavers as the teams met four times. WSU (18-16) will move on to the best-of-three championship series against Pittsburgh (20-16). The first game will take place Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. PT at Beasley Coliseum. The second and third games, if necessary, will be played at Pittsburgh, March 28 and March 30. All three will be televised on HDNet.

Lodwick was coming off his previous career high of 16 points against Wyoming Monday in the quarterfinals of the CBI. He finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double in a career-high 35 minutes. He was 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. Junior Reggie Moore added a season-high 22 points in 39 minutes for the Cougars.

“I was glad to see that,” WSU Head Coach Ken Bone said of Lodwick’s success. “He is a local guy from Oregon and just had his career high the other night, where he had 16, and tonight he goes for [23]. He’s just such a great kid, a senior, and a captain. It’s fun to see Abe have great success.”

Oregon State (21-15) was led by Eric Moreland with a double-double of his own, 14 points and 11 rebounds. The league’s second leading scorer, Jared Cunningham, added 13 points. WSU shot a blistering .533 (8-for-15) from beyond the 3-point arc, compared to just .167 (2-for-12) from OSU.

The Pac-12′s leading scorer, Brock Motum, scored WSU’s first four points before leaving the game with a right ankle injury with 18:10 to go in the first half. He did not return to action.

“We’ve had some other games we played pretty inspired but this is right up there,” Bone said. “I thought our guys played really rallied knowing that our first team all-league guy was down and out. Our guys were able to manufacture points in different ways and they did a great job. We showed a lot of character and a lot of heart.”

With Motum’s absence, WSU found a variety of ways to score early with its next 10 points coming from four different players, Marcus Capers, DaVonté Lacy, Moore and D.J. Shelton to take a 14-8 lead with 12:44 to go in the half. Including that stretch, Moore scored eight of WSU’s nine points as the Cougars led 19-13 with 7:49 to go in the first half.

The Beavers scored four-straight points capped by a layup by Charlie Barton to pull within two, 19-17, with 6:55 left in the half. From that point Lodwick caught fire, scoring 16 of WSU’s final 20 points of the first half as WSU held a 10-point, 39-29 lead at intermission.

Oregon State got on the board first in the second half with one of two free throws from Roberto Nelson. Lacy and Moore combined to score the first eight points of the half for Washington State as WSU took a 13-point, 47-34 lead with 17 minutes to go.

The Beavers slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled within nine points, 51-42, with 13:15 to go. WSU used a 9-0 run at that point to extend the lead to 18, 60-42, with 8:57 remaining in the game. Despite OSU’s attempt to foul toward the end of the game, the Cougars held on to their lead and finished with a 72-55 victory.

Monday’s game at Beasley will mark just the second meeting between Washington State and Pittsburgh. The Panthers won the lone meeting, 57-43, Nov. 29, 2008 in the Championship game of the Legends Classic. Monday’s game will be televised on HDNet.

Washington State improves to 17-16 on the season, while Wyoming ends its season at 21-12. The Cougars will travel to Corvallis, Ore., to take on Oregon State (21-14) for the fourth time this season in the CBI presented by Zebra Penn Semifinal Round at 7 p.m. PT Wednesday. In the other semifinal game, Pittsburgh (19-16) will travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on Butler (22-14) Wednesday. The winners will meet in a best-of-three series beginning next Monday.

Motum led all scorers with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line, while adding seven rebounds. Lodwick added seven rebounds as well to his career-high 16 points. The redshirt senior tied his career high with four made 3-pointers and was 6-for-9 from the field. He also tied his season high with four assists.

Leonard Washington led the Cowboys with 14 points, while Adam Waddell also contributed 13 points. Larry Nance, Jr. was ejected after picking up two technical fouls back-to-back in the second half. He finished with just two points and four rebounds.

The defensive battle got off to a slow start, with the first points coming Abe Lodwick at the 17:55 mark in the first half. The Cougars led by as many as 10 points with 1:30 to go in the first half, 26-16, but the Cowboys used a 5-0 run to end the half and cut WSU’s lead to five after the first 20 minutes of action.

The slow pace continued in the beginning of the second half, as WSU extended its lead to 34-23 at the 16-minute mark, opening the half with an 8-2 run. With WSU’s lead at nine, Mike Ladd hit 3-of-4 free throws and Motum added two to extend the lead to 39-25 with 10:26 to go in the game.

Wyoming put together a run of its own to cut the lead to 10, 47-37, with 5:58 to go in the game, capped by a 3-pointer by Francisco Cruz. Just as it appeared the Cowboys had the momentum, Nance, Jr. was called for a foul on Motum when the two went for a rebound, and followed it up with back-to-back technical fouls after reacting to the call. WSU’s Reggie Moore made three of his four free throw attempts and Motum made his two to give WSU a 15-point lead, 52-37.

The Cougars continued to build to their lead, reaching their largest point differential of 20 points at the 20 second mark on a layup by Dexter Kernich-Drew. WSU held on to that lead, winning 61-41.

Washington State and Oregon State will meet for the fourth time this season, as WSU holds the 2-1 advantage, winning both regular season games, while the Beavers knocked the Cougars out of the Pac-12 Tournament with a first-round victory. The game, played at 7 p.m. at Gill Coliseum will be televised on HDNet.

WSU improves to 16-16 on the season, while USF’s season ends at 20-14. Motum was joined in double figures by Reggie Moore (18 points), Marcus Capers (12 points) and Abe Lodwick (10 points). Moore finished the night 12-for-13 from the free throw line as the Cougars shot .893 (25-for-28), their second-best performance of the season. Capers was two assists and two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

San Francisco also had four players in double figures, led by Michael Williams with 20. Cole Dickerson added 19, followed by Angelo Caloiaro with 15 and Perris Blackwell with 12. Dickerson had a double-double adding 11 rebounds.

The Cougars got on the board first and led 5-0 before the Dons’ first bucket at the 18:30 mark. The Cougars slowly extended their lead, reaching 14 points at 24-10 with 11:30 left in the first half. USF countered with an 11-0 run to trail by three with just over seven minutes to go. The three points became one at halftime as the Cougars led 35-34.

Washington State opened the second half strong and quickly held a 10-point lead, 47-37, with 16 minutes left in the game. Each time it looked like WSU was pulling away, San Francisco would come up with a big play and eventually got within four points at the six minute mark, 69-65. But the Cougars continued to answer and hit free throws down the stretch to hang on for an 89-75 victory.

WSU will move on to the quarterfinals where it will face the winner of the game between North Dakota State and Wyoming, Monday, March 19. The location and time are yet to be determined.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to continue our season by participating in the CBI,” WSU Head Coach Ken Bone said. “It provides us a chance to keep playing and end our season on a positive note.”

The fifth annual CBI presented by Zebra Pen will again consist of 16 teams vying for a national championship beginning March 13, ending with a best-of-three Championship Series which begins Monday, March 26. Two of the eight First Round games will commence on Tuesday, March 13 with the remaining First Round games being played on Wednesday, March 14. The Quarterfinal Round will take place Monday, March 19 with Semifinal Round games being played on Wednesday, March 21.

This marks just the second meeting between Washington State and USF as WSU won the lone meeting, 53-45, Dec. 23, 1950 at San Francisco. The Cougars are 1-5 in the state of California this season, with their win coming over USC March 3. WSU will make its first trip to the Bay Area this season as it did not take on California and Stanford on the road because of the additions of Colorado and Utah to the Pac-12.

This marks WSU’s 12th postseason appearance and its fifth in the last six years. Last season the Cougars reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and notched their most postseason wins in a season going 3-1. Washington State is 13-11in the postseason. This is the first CBI appearance for the Cougars, however a Pac-12 school has won the championship in two of the four years of its existence. Last season Oregon took home the championship and in 2009 Oregon State won the whole thing. Tulsa took home the inaugural championship in 2008, while VCU won in 2010, one season before reaching the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2011.

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The winner of the game between the Cougars and the Dons will face the winner of North Dakota State at Wyoming. WSU may have the chance to face Oregon State for the fourth time this season, as OSU hosts Western Illinois in the First Round Wednesday. If the two meet, it would occur in the semifinals .

A unique feature of the CBI is its best-of-three Championship Series, which begins on Monday, March 26 and continues on Wednesday, March 28. Should a third game be necessary, it will be played on Friday, March 30. Every game of the 2012 CBI presented by Zebra Pen will be played on campus, providing fans the opportunity to follow and support their team. To view the 2012 CBI presented by Zebra Pen bracket, please CLICK HERE. Once again, HDNet will serve as the primary television outlet for the CBI presented by Zebra Pen. HDNet, which is owned and was founded by Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban, reaches in excess of 23 million homes.

The CBI presented by Zebra Pen is produced by the Gazelle Group of Princeton, N.J. The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation, and sponsorship consulting. Gazelle produces numerous nationally-recognized events, such as the 2K Sports Classic, TicketCity Legends Classic, Gotham Classic, and the All-American Championship. The Gazelle Group is a member of USA Basketball. For more information on the Gazelle Group, please visit www.gazellegroup.com.

D.J. Shelton added 14 points for the Cougars (13-11, 5-7 Pac-12), who had lost three of their previous four games.

Jared Cunningham had 33 points and six rebounds for Oregon State (15-9, 5-7).

Washington State led by 15 points at halftime, and stretched the margin to 59-41 on consecutive baskets, the second by Shelton off a steal with 13:15 left.

The Beavers got as close as nine in the closing minutes.

Washington State shot 28 of 54 from the field, while Oregon State was 22 of 59.

Motum was hot from the onset, scoring 11 of the Cougars’ (12-10, 4-6) first 16 points. WSU led 30-24 at halftime.

Southern California (6-17, 1-9) put together a 14-4 run midway through the second half, cutting the Cougars’ lead to 49-45 with 6:42 remaining, but WSU went 4 of 5 at the free throw line during a minute-long span to go up 56-45 with 3:38 left.

Motum accounted for WSU’s final two points when he grabbed a defensive rebound and was immediately fouled, proceeding to hit both foul shots. Motum was the only Cougar player to finish in double figures.

USC had three players notch double figures with Greg Allen leading with 17 points. Garrett Jackson added 15 and Byron Wesley finished with 12.

Davonte Lacy of Washington State (11-8, 3-4) hit a 3-pointer, was fouled and missed the ensuing free throw to give the Cougars a 77-74 lead with 18.3 seconds remaining.

With six seconds left, Justin Cobbs of California (16-5, 6-2) hit the front end of a pair of free throws, but missed the second. Jorge Gutierrez grabbed the rebound and flung a shot that hit the front of the rim to seal the Cougars’ victory.

WSU had four players finish in double figures, including Brock Motum with 15 points.

Cal had five players in double figures. Gutierrez led the Golden bears with 19 points.

SEATTLE (AP) – Faisal Aden scored 17 points off the bench and Washington State continued to recover from its early-season slump with a 67-56 win over Pepperdine on Thursday night.

DaVonte Lacy added 15 for the Cougars (8-4), who have won six straight games – albeit not against the strongest competition – as they head into Pac-12 Conference play next Thursday against Oregon in Spokane, Wash.

Washington State improved to 7-0 playing its annual game at Seattle’s KeyArena. It is part of a long stretch of more than a month where the Cougars will technically play three home games but none on campus in Pullman.

Corbin Moore led Pepperdine (6-5) with 14 points.