NEW YORK -- For what felt like a dangerously long stretch of the first half in their Big East tournament debut, the Pitt Panthers couldn't seem to settle on their methodology at the free-throw line.

Did they want to go bounce, bounce, spin, miss?

Or spin, bounce, spin, bounce, and then miss?

Either way, it was clear from the first frantic minutes of the meeting with nemesis Marquette that free-throw shooting was going to be a major issue. Twenty-four hours after an unexpectedly spirited tussle with St. John's, Marquette came out just a quarter step fatigued, swiping desperately at the thoroughly rested Panthers.

So when Aaron Gray missed five of his first eight free throws, and the usually immaculate Ronald Ramon clanked one off the rim as the lead changed hands eight times in the first half, Jamie Dixon had to be thinking he'd see this darkening plot line before.

"It's something we've talked about and worked on, and it's something that's held us back in a couple of games," the head coach said in the minutes after Pitt overcame its recent free throw problems and a handful of other pressing issues to grab an 89-79 win. "But I think Aaron is shooting the ball better from the free-throw line and I think a lot of our guys are. I think Levon [Kendall] is, as well as Antonio [Graves]."

Improvement came as a flash flood of free-throw shooting competence with about five minutes remaining in the half and the score tied, 24-24. From that point until Mike Cook missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:40 remaining in the game and Madison Square Garden emptying, Pitt made 15 consecutive free throws on the way to an 83-67 lead and a spot in tonight's tournament semifinal against Louisville.

"Those are important points," Dixon said.

Pitt's 27-for-41 performance at the line might as likely been the mere extension of a fine sniping performance from just about every spot on the floor. Sam Young, most notably, not only made 7 of his 10 free throws, but five of his six field-goal attempts, bringing 17 points on a night when the Pitt bench came through with its standard contribution, 21 points, or one below average.

Still, the first half went into the tournament books under small statistical miracles, unless there was some other explanation for how Pitt could get 40 points in 20 minutes despite enduring a dreary stretch in which the Panthers scored one field goal in 16 trips up the court.

It wasn't as if the rest of the pre-intermission proceedings were problem free for Dixon's team either.

There was a serious issue with Marquette forward Dan Fitzgerald, for example, as Pitt couldn't figure out how to match him up. Cook got the starting assignment in the signature man-to-man but was giving away five inches to the 6-9 Fitzgerald. From the left wing, Fitzgerald nailed two 3s in the opening minutes, but Pitt's first solution was worse than the problem. Keith Benjamin came off the bench to guard him, but Benjamin is 6-2.

In the half's final minutes, Dixon went to a zone defense, but Fitzgerald shot another 3 over top of it, meaning he had as many 3s at the break as Pitt's roster.

Cook plead nervousness, not so much with his defensive responsibilities, but with the matter of this being his first night in the world's most famous arena.

"I'm not going to say it was the defense," he said after slashing for 16 points. "It was just, you know, a big environment for me on a big stage and I came out kind of nervous a little bit. Coach kept me in the game, let me get myself into the game and let me get into the flow. It really helped me out a lot that I was able to get a transition bucket. The second half I just wanted to come out and get rebounds, get some steals and, if the shot was there, just take it."

Cook had 14 of his 16 after intermission, when Pitt's shooting started to look unstoppable. The Panthers made six of their 11 3-point attempts, a serious reversal of a condition that, over their previous six games, three of them losses, they were shooting only 29 percent from behind the arc.

"When [Levance] Fields made a 27-footer off the backboard, it started to feel like it just wasn't our night," Marquette coach Tom Crean said.

Uh-huh, and when Gray goes to the line 14 times and makes eight of 'em, you can be sure it's not.