PROVIDENCE — All season, and perhaps through the previous three seasons as well, the players at the core of the Providence College basketball program have come tantalizingly close to the type of upset win that would make the college basketball world stand up and take notice.

Box score

Tuesday night, with their backs fully pressed against the wall, they finally came through.

The Friars pulled off the biggest upset possible, stunning number-one-ranked Pittsburgh, 81-73, before a delirious crowd of 11,887 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. It was PC’s second win ever over a top-ranked team, joining the historic, double-overtime victory over Michigan back in 1976.

After the final buzzer rang and the crowd had finished dancing onto the floor in celebration, the five seniors who painted a classic Senior Night masterpiece juggled a mixture of happiness, relief and excitement in their heads.

"It’s definitely a relief," said Jeff Xavier, the senior guard and Pawtucket resident. "This group of seniors has been through hell and back. We were more determined than ever."

Classmate Jonathan Kale, the undersized center who stood toe-to-toe with Pittsburgh star DeJuan Blair all night, felt it was his team’s time.

"We knew we had to get this one," he said. "It happened to be Pitt and they happened to be number one. We came together and willed ourselves. We’ve been through so much this season and in our careers and we just really wanted it."

The Friars got the job done by beating Pittsburgh at their own game. The Panthers had built a sparkling 25-2 record thanks to a choking defense and multi-dimensional offense. But on this night, Providence was the team that was too strong inside as Kale, Geoff McDermott and Randall Hanke helped score 43 points in the paint and more than held their own off the glass. Despite a few panicky turnovers in the final minutes, PC was the team that flashed plenty of cool and made the critical defensive stops down the stretch.

Pitt always seems to impose its will on opponents but the Friars received a break from an officiating crew that didn’t let the Panthers manhandle PC’s ball-handlers. That led to 24 Pitt fouls to just 15 for the Friars and allowed PC to outscore Pitt from the foul line, 22-12.

The win not only topples Pitt from its perch atop the Big East but also injects new life into PC’s post-season hopes. A season-turning win like this puts the Friars back into the NCAA Tournament mix, especially if they can win at Rutgers or at Villanova to end the regular season.

"I don’t know if many people really gave us a chance tonight, but I really felt like in our locker room there wasn’t much doubt that we could win if we played our best basketball," said coach Keno Davis. "We hadn’t played our best basketball yet."

The Friars survived a few hiccups in this game as well but did more than enough to grab the memorable win. PC put five players in double figures and received a lift from each of Davis’ Iron Eight. Weyinmi Efejuku led the scoring parade with 16 points, nine coming from the foul line. Sharaud Curry added 15 and clearly out-played all-Big East point guard Levance Fields. Kale had 13 points, Geoff McDermott added 11 and six assists and Randall Hanke came up with 10 points.

PC improves to 17-11 on the season and 9-7 in the Big East and should get a huge bump in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) where Pittsburgh was also the number-one team in the country.

Pittsburgh, now 25-3 and 12-3 in the league, did not play well. "Obviously it was a disappointing game for us," said coach Jaime Dixon. "We didn’t play well and they did. The score was very indicative of that."

The first half was straight out of some PC fantasy as the Friars rode the emotion of the pre-game Senior Night festivities and flew out to a 15-4 lead thanks to one big play after another. Kale and McDermott passed the ball inside the lane crisply and began a half where 33 of PC’s 44 points came in the paint.

Sam Young (16 points, 8 rebounds) was the only Panther player who came out strong as he hit two hoops in the lane to get the visitors going. But Pitt gained a little traction only when Ashton Gibbs drained a 3-pointer and then another and Blair scored inside to cut the lead to 29-25 with 6:17 left. But the Friars responded with a major roundhouse punch and scored the next 10 points to take a commanding 39-25 lead. Marshon Brooks began the run by out-scrapping everyone for an offensive rebound basket. A Brooks feed to McDermott for a dunk was followed by a Kale jump hook over Blair. The run ended with Curry feeding Brian McKenzie for a jam that brought the house down.

The Friars closed out a 15-1 run to end the half with Kale continuing the lane assault by feeding McDermott for a hoop inside. PC regained control and could’ve worked time off the clock but instead Curry hit a bad shot/good shot 3-pointer that swished with 40 seconds left to push the lead to 44-26.

"When you dig a hole of 18 points you make it a situation where you almost have to play perfect," Pitt’s Dixon said of his team’s halftime plight.

The Friars kept rolling early in the second half with Xavier draining a wing 3-pointer and Curry scoring off yet another Pitt turnover to push the lead to 51-31 with 19:43 to go. Pitt star Blair was no factor in the first half and quickly fell into foul trouble in the second yet still finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. He picked up his third foul with 10:57 left when he pushed Xavier in a rebounding battle and number four came just 14 seconds later when Hanke flipped in a jump hook over the sophomore star.

A Xavier 3-ball pushed the PC lead to 61-44 with 9:40 left but at that point Pitt finally dug in with some of its trademark aggressive defense. Two threes by Gibbs (15 points) and one from Fields helped start a Pitt run that sliced the lead to 72-63 with 3:47 left. A Young 3-pointer with 2:20 left made it 73-66 and turnovers by Brooks and McKenzie helped the Panthers close to 75-70 with 51 seconds left after a Blair score.

At that point, the PC fans, standing and screaming, could’ve grown dizzy with flashbacks of other late game collapses. But not on this night. The Friars made their free throws with the game on the line, sending the crowd into a frenzy and firing a dramatic shot across the college basketball world.

kmcnamar@projo.com