By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PROVIDENCE – For Geoff McDermott, Jeff Xavier, Randall Hanke, Jonathan Kale and Weyinmi Efejuku, better late than never.
In a performance that rocked the foundation of college basketball, Providence College supplied the shockwaves by upsetting top-ranked Pittsburgh, 81-73, Tuesday night at a vibrant Dunkin’ Donuts Center. PC slays the nation’s No. 1 ranked team for the second time in school history, the first since 1976 when Michigan came to town possessor of the country’s top billing.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Kale, who was joined by fellow seniors McDermott, Xavier, Hanke and Efejuku at a post-game news conference that carried an underlying theme: relief .
For a group of Friars that has spent the bulk of their careers seeking to leave an indelible mark, what better time to etch their names in the school’s basketball annuls than on Senior Night? One by one the Providence seniors walked out to center court to receive their due from the home fans. Once the game started, those same seniors took turns in playing the game of their lives.
The contributions from the honorees were endless to Hanke (10 points) to Efejuku (team-high 16 points) to Kale (13 points) to McDermott (11 points, six assists to the homegrown Xavier, whose 3-pointer in front of the PC head coach Keno Davis put the Friars up 61-44 with under 10 minutes remaining.
“I think this is the most complete game, ever,” was the seal of approval Xavier (six points) placed on the monumental win. “We played together, everyone was picking up the slack; no one was going 1-on-1.”
Echoed Hanke: “We’ve shown flashes of the past (regarding the Friars’ potential), but we played together and did whatever it took. Everyone of these seniors played their role.”
After getting feted with flowers and framed jerseys, the Friars quickly checked their emotions at the locker room. Perhaps stunning Pittsburgh, who moved into the top spot on Monday, Providence stormed out to a 15-4 lead left the Panthers. The Friars penetrated the Panthers’ normally staunch defense with ease, attacking Pittsburgh’s low post with a series of dribble drive penetrations that produced easy buckets.
McDermott and Kale (12 first-half points) were the ones primarily working the high-low game. By halftime, the Friars had torched the normally stingy Panthers for 33 points in the paint.
“(Pittsburgh) is a great defensive team. Every time I drove I tried to give (Kale) the ball to post up,” said McDermott. “When you’re finishing inside, there a lot of high-percentage shots.”
A pull-up three from junior Sharaud Curry (15 points on 5-of-7 shooting) gave PC its largest lead of the first half, 44-26, which was the score at halftime. The Friars’ advantage quickly ballooned to 20 (51-31) early in the second half, but slowly but surely, the Panthers came alive.
Putting the ball in the hands of its top three players, Pitt’s Sam Young, Levance Fields and DeJuan Blair catapulted the Panthers from the brink of extinction. Freshman Ashton Gibbs chipped in with two 3-pointers that trimmed the deficit to 68-56 with under five minutes remaining.
A layup from Fields got the Panthers  within nine points (72-63), the first time Pitt had been that close since the opening tip. Fields’ hoop was the result of Curry getting stripped near midcourt.
The Friars, now 9-7 in the Big East, tried to stem the tide, but a miss on a turnaround from Kale and 1-of-2 from the foul line by McDermott left the door open. Curry stopped the bleeding with two makes at the charity stripe with 1:19 to go, but two free throws from Fields and a follow-up by Blair inched Pitt to within 75-70 with 50 seconds remaining. Blair’s hoop was the result of Xavier throwing a pass off Brian McKenzie’s back.
That’s when the dominos started falling in place for the Friars. Xavier (six points) got Blair to foul out after the St. Raphael product got decked by the Panthers’ bruising forward. Blair departed with 17 points in 30 minutes.
Back up double figures, Xavier applied the capper with a steal with 20 seconds remaining. Suffering defeat for just the third time this season, Pitt (25-3) was turned over 18 times that directly led to 19 PC points.
“The seniors deserve the credit,” said PC head coach Keno Davis.
Asked what this does in term of their NCAA Tournament hopes, Kale said, “We think this helps, but we still have a lot more work to do.”
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RIM RATTLERS: Dale Arnold filled in for John Rooke on the radio side last night. … Pitt is now 1-2 when trailing at halftime. … The Panthers entered Tuesday No. 1 in the RPI ratings. … After never leading against Notre Dame on Saturday, PC led Pitt wire-to-wire.